Sonic Challenges Mario to a Grand Prix!
by JellyUltraz
Summary: Sonic's always longed to drive in a racing kart, but he could never find anyone who actually felt like racing him. Mario and friends, on the other hand, are racing constantly these days, so when Sonic is watching one of these races, he decides to gather his friends, build some karts (and bikes) of their own, and organize a Grand Prix of epic proportions!
1. DK's Jungle Parkway (Part 2)

**Ah, my third story. Much fun. It's a Mario and Sonic crossover based on racing. Nothing else to know other than that. So yeah, ****enjoy!**

* * *

Sonic Challenges Mario to a Grand Prix!

Chapter 1: DK's Jungle Parkway (Part 2)

A red streak zoomed by, nearly blowing away a nearby bush. It whirled around the loop, and flew off the boost ramp, on to a beach like section. Skid marks were left here many times. The kart landed perfectly, drifted, creating a light blue spark and when the driver stopped drifting, the kart boosted into the jungle. Weaving in and out of the turns, the driver made it to a bridge, and crossed it, without even sweating at the sight from looking down. Unknown to the driver though, 11 other racers were chasing after him, one especially close, fuming with rage. As the driver entered the cave at the end of the bridge, a Green Shell just skimmed his kart, slightly throwing him off his driving. Momentarily, another shell barely scraped his kart, this time nearly making his kart spin. The driver went around the path safely, and out of the cave, entering the final lap. Yet still unknown to him, the driver behind was raging like a firestorm. As the driver raced down the path, yet ANOTHER Green Shell was gaining on him. This time, it hit him, if it wasn't for him leaning his kart towards the edge. The driver behind saw this as an opportunity, and snagged another item, this one being a Mushroom, which he grinned at. As the driver in 1st was approaching the loop again, he heard someone boosting towards him. Just as he turned to see who it was, he was suddenly falling into the lake.

"Grahaha! Serves you right Mario! Now _I_ can win this race!" the evil king Bowser bellowed.

Mario made no reaction as he was pulled out of the water by Lakitu. As he was placed on the track, he made a serious look, gripped his wheel, and zoomed back into the race.

"Thanks, Lakitu!" Mario called, as he whirled around the loop. Lakitu smiled, and heard a splash.

"Aww, DK and I were in a tight fight for 4th, and then Bowser Jr jumped us and hit us with a Star. That's so cheap! Who brings a Star to a high place like 4th? What do you think Lakitu?" Yoshi asked, as he was fished out?

Lakitu shrugged as he took out another rod, and fished DK out too.

"Ook! Ook!" DK said which Lakitu translated to "Thanks!"

"Thanks for the save, Lakitu!" Yoshi yelled out as the duo drove off to to reclaim 4th place…

. . .

Somewhere near the start of the race (which was the exit of the cave), Toad (who was in 7th place) was being chased by Dry Bones. The fiend cackled, and used his Mushroom to close some distance. Toad dropped as many bananas as he could, but it still didn't stop his fleshless pursier. As they passed the starting line, and entered their final lap too, Dry Bones started to throw bones!

"Is that even legal? Toad asked himself as he attempted to dodge the bones. One knocked him on the head (Dry Bones snickered at this), dazing him, though he still didn't stop. He reached his hand out and managed to barely swipe a Golden Mushroom from an Item Box. The Mushroom glimmered with hope, and he gripped it tightly as placed it into the engine. He revved it up several times, and with a suddenly explosion, he blazed forward, leaving a golden streak behind…and Dry Bones and his kart cluttered across the path. He growled, reassembled himself somehow, and then he proceeded to reassemble the parts of his kart that fell off.

. . .

In 3rd place, Luigi was nervously chasing after whoever was in 2nd, and he had a Mega Mushroom to assist him if needed. Luigi heard a familiar cry, and saw Bowser Jr. He sweat-dropped, and went full throttle. Bowser Jr took notice of this, and snagged a Mushroom. They were currently in the forest quite a while away from the bridge near the finish line, so it was anyone's game. Bowser Jr slammed that Mushroom into his engine, and just scraped the back of Luigi's car. He then proceeded to snag a couple of Green Shells and threw said shells at Luigi. He yelped, and grew to epic proportions. Bowser Jr screamed and suddenly turned straight into a tree. Coconuts dropped on his head, and he just sat in his kart, still overwhelmed by what just happened. While Bowser Jr was trying to think straight again, Donkey Kong and Yoshi saw him, and hid a smirk.

Then the two continued to clash for 4th. Yoshi tried to use his drift-boost to get ahead, but DK drove in front of him, and stopped his boosting, cut his speed sharply and throwing him off completely. Yoshi managed to take out a Red Shell, aimed it at a tree ahead of DK, and shot it. Donkey Kong looked behind him, and dropped what may have been 24 bananas behind him. The Red Shell was destroyed instantly. Yoshi tried to manoeuvre his way through the fruit pile, but a banana caught his back left wheel, sending him into a spin. Considering there were several bananas ahead of him, he'd be spinning for quite a while, giving DK much distance over Yoshi. Wario caught sight of this as he was driving past into 5th place, snickered and tossed a Bob-omb towards Yoshi. Said dinosaur couldn't tell if he was trying to clear the bananas, or trying to blow him up, but alas, Yoshi was spinning, and so was his head and thus he could not think.

. . .

Daisy, Toadette and Koopa Troopa were having a friendly conversation as they half-raced, half-talked in the bottom three places.

"And then Bowser was like: Now I'm the great king of guys who talk to POSTERS!" Koopa chuckled as everyone around him was laughing so hard they nearly fell out of their karts. Soon everyone stopped laughing and got serious.

"Anyway, enough talk, ready to race again? It's no fun if we don't give it much of a go." Daisy asked, masking her remaining laughs with a cough.

"Yeah, even if we all had that terrible start, we should at least try to finish quickly." Toadette added.

"I'm shocked Bowser would do such a mean thing though. That's just overkill." Koopa said, seemingly shocked.

"Speaking of that jerk, where is he anyway?" asked Daisy.

. . .

Bowser cruised along, without a care in the world. He had dispatched Mario temporarily from the race, and he was nearly at the bridge after that long drive through the forest. He practically had the whole race in the bag. Suddenly, Bowser heard wheels. They sounded like…Mario's kart. He made a face as he saw Mario use a POW Block, which hardly fazed him.

"Darn it, Bowser, why do you have to be so heavy?" Mario mumbled, shaking a fist.

"Heavy? Are you saying I'm fat? Well you need to lose a few pounds and lay off that pasta, chubby!" Bowser retorted, somewhat smugly. Mario reached out his left hand, and managed to snag a Mushroom…or three! Mario drifted and had a bright orange spark. Once he finished, he got a powerful boost and by leaning to the left, bumping into the side of Bowser. The King Koopa, being a heavy character ("HEY!") easily managed to push Mario off-road, causing him to quickly lose speed. Mario instantly used a Mushroom, and got back on track. But he was behind, and the bridge was in sight. Luckily for him, Mario had not one, but three mushrooms, and used one more to get ahead into the cave. Bowser saw a very smug smirk on Mario's face, and growled to himself. He reached out to grab an item…and got a Blue Shell.

"Hey! People behind the screen! Watch me destroy Mario with my Blue Shell!" Bowser called, receiving a Bob-omb from the sky for breaking the fourth-wall. This got Bowser even further behind, so he used the Blue Shell. An explosion was heard, and Bowser knew it hit its mark. He drove over a Mushroom some poor fool dropped, and boosted closer to the hit zone. But Mario was nowhere to be found.

"Yes! I did it! I blew up Mario! Grahaha!" Bowser cackled, not noticing the red plumber boosting around the hill in the cave.

"What?" Bowser yelled as Mario was approaching the finish line. "He dodged a Blue Shell? He must have used that Mushroom of his to boost and dodge it! Grr! That Mario's a crafty one!"

Mario could have sworn he heard Bowser stamp the ground with his feet as he crossed the finish line proudly in his B Dasher Mk 2.

. . .

Meanwhile, Luigi saw Bowser stamp his feet in rage and randomly spit bursts of fire in the cave, and ducked when one nearly scorched his head off. Luigi was clueless as to why Bowser was not only OUTSIDE his kart, but to why he just didn't cross the finish line when he easily could have. Luigi just shrugged and he used a Mushroom to boost out of the cave and to the finish line, seeing Mario with his kart parked near a tree, and him just reading a book. Luigi drove over to Mario.

"Erm…why was Bowser raging in the cave?" Luigi asked.

"Eh?"

"Bowser, he was out of his kart, stamping his feet and blasting fire everywhere. He was standing on the mud part, so he didn't obstruct me, but the guy nearly burned my head clean off!"

"Mama mia! He WAS stamping his feet!"

"Did he rage quit or something?"

"Well, I dodged a Blue Shell he sent at me and I finished 1st."

"Rage quit." The duo said in unison.

. . .

In the forest, Yoshi was using his Mega Mushroom to run over Wario.

"That wasn't nice! Why'd you do that?" Yoshi yelled out, trying to squish the yellow racer.

"Wario doesn't need a reason to be mean!"

Wario heard Yoshi connect his face with his palm, and dropped a Bob-omb in annoyance. It blew up, but Yoshi was still chasing him. Once he wasn't big anymore, he sent in a Red Shell at Wario. The Red Shell missed Wario, and U-turned into Wario's face and he tumbled backwards. Yoshi dodged the tumbling heap of fat, and drifted till it turned to an orange hue, and boosted towards the bridge. There he saw DK, who was entering the cave. Yoshi drove in after him, followed by Wario. DK casually dodged the flames, and drove out to claim 3rd place. Wario was hit in the butt by one of Bowser's flames, and howled in pain. He threw a Bob-omb soon after, which sent the Koopa to the floor.

"That's what you get when you mess with Wario!" Wario cackled.

But Bowser just blasted Wario with an even more painful flame, sending him howling in pain yet again. Then he continued to blast aimlessly, still fuming from his loss. Yoshi learnt from Wario's mistake and threw an egg at him in an attempt to shut him up just before he was out of the cave. Bowser Jr eventually came through, still in some shock, but most of it had depleted from his face. He released a few flames to block any that were about to hit him, and dodged any that he couldn't block. Soon enough, he left the cave.

. . .

Toad rocketed through the track, eventually even passing Wario, who was just about to finish. Even though he finished, he couldn't stop, and rocketed off the edge, then landed on a boat in the lake. He still didn't stop, and his kart automatically drove off the boat, into the water, out of the water and through the second half of the track a second time. He blazed past Dry Bones, Koopa Troopa, Daisy and Toadette, the former who attempted to hit him with a bone.

"Look at him go, when did he get so fast?" Toadette asked, somewhat amused.

"I'm shocked he hasn't crashed yet." Daisy said, getting strange looks from Koopa and Toadette.

"No, no, not that I want him to crash, I was just shocked he was goi- Hey! Are you trying to kill someone with those destructive tools?" Daisy asked as she ducked to avoid a bone Dry Bones tossed at her.

"No, I'm trying to cork your mouth; your talking is annoying me!" Dry Bones shouted, unaware of what was about to happen to him.

"Incoming!" Toad shouted, ploughing through Dry Bones, breaking him and his kart once again, and Toad not even losing a fraction of his speed as he continued to blast through the jungle and across the bridge, through the cave and out all over again.

"Karma." Koopa, Toadette and Daisy all said as they crossed the bridge, leaving Dry Bones behind. Daisy and Koopa quickly dodged the flames from Bowser, and finished without a word in that order. Toadette however was constantly nearly getting hit, and one of them would have if it wasn't for Toad again zooming past and deflecting it. Toadette blinked as Toad whizzed by, still unable to control his speed. As she came out of the cave, she finished safely.

"Was that Toad?" Toadette asked, with a hint of shock in her voice.

"Yup." Yoshi said, pointing at Toad in his kart, who was held by DK with the wheels of the vehicle still spinning madly.

"Thanks DK; I would have kept going if you didn't stop me with your amazing strength." Toad said, finally calmed.

DK nodded, then took him out of his kart, and as soon as it hit the ground, it kept going. The kart zoomed off the edge, and eventually vaulted out of the water, going who knows where. He placed Toad on the ground, and proceeded to get Bowser out of the cave. During this, Dry Bones finished too. Even the combined force of DK, Wario and Yoshi couldn't get him out, and they decided to send in Bowser Jr to try to convince him to get out. Sadly it didn't work.

"Ugh, we can't finish this race if not everyone finishes. Anyone got a plan?" Daisy asked.

"Wario could bomb him out!" Wario cackled, holding a bob-omb ready for detonation then pointing his butt at the cave. "Wario can also gas him out!"

"No. Just no." Luigi said.

"I got it!" Mario yelled out.

Everyone surrounded Mario and he was bombarded with shouts of: "WHAT?" "TELL ME!" "DO IT NOW!" "I WANNA GO HOME!" and even a "DO IT AND I'LL PAY YOU!" from Wario which silenced everyone. Mario shook his head.

"I know you Wario; you wouldn't pay me squat even after saying that. Besides, it may not even work. But here's the plan…" Mario said as he gathered everyone in a circle. Then everyone went into whisper mode as Mario told him his plan.

. . .

"What? Mario, there's no way I'm going to do that." Peach said firmly.

"If you don't, we'll all be stuck here. Lakitu says we can't leave until everyone is accounted for." Mario said over a walkie-talkie.

"Why are you making me use a walkie-talkie anyway?" Peach asked.

"Yoshi's idea. Plus it's more original." Mario answered.

"OK, I'm coming over, but that doesn't mean I like your plan." Peach said with a sigh.

"OK, hu-" Mario started, but was tackled by Daisy.

"Also, Peach, could you bring me some popcorn, I'm kind of hungry. And from the look Yoshi's giving me, make that two, extra-large." Daisy ordered.

All that was heard before the walkie-talkie was turned off was a facepalm.

. . .

Sonic ran through a loop-de-loop and vaulted himself on to another path, and continued breaking the sound barrier. Knuckles was leaning on the outside wall of Tails' workshop, nearly napping as Sonic rocketed into Tails' workshop. He waved his knuckles in the air but did nothing else to stop the blue hedgehog and continued to relax. Tails was working on a ring you could hold to let you breath endlessly underwater, until Sonic skidded to a stop, startling Tails and making him drop his ring, nearly breaking it.

"Check this out! They had to cancel the Leaf Cup because of Bowser!" Sonic said cheerfully as he held a TV for Tails to see.

. . .

Peach strolled towards the group, gave Daisy and Yoshi two large boxes, both striped in red and white, and the duo sat in their karts and munched on their popcorn.

"Thanks, Peach!" Daisy and Yoshi said with food in their mouth. Peach sighed as she walked towards Mario.

"You really want me to do this, don't you?" Peach said, knowing the answer but asking anyway. Mario hesitated, but nodded. Peach sighed, and walked into the cave.

Eventually, Peach managed to coax Bowser out at last.

"FINALLY!" everyone but Peach and Bowser yelled as they were now able to go home.

. . .

"I wish I knew what was happening, the camera is so far away from what's happening that I can only see, not hear." Sonic said while intently watching the TV.

"You've really gotten into racing, haven't you?" Tails asked while he was fixing any damage done to his Aqua Ring (which was what he decided to call it) from its fall.

"Well, racing is fast, especially this kind, so it's natural for me to like it. Though I'm still obviously faster." Sonic explained while waiting for stuff to happen on the TV.

"Why don't you go to their world and join their races then?" Tails asked. "Then you can actually race for the first time in their world."

"That's a good idea! C'mon, let's go gather everyone!" Sonic said, as he whisked Tails out of his workshop and made him drop his things.

"Everyone? I only meant you!" Tails said, but wasn't heard as they passed Knuckles. "What about Knuckles?"

"We'll get him once we've gotten everyone." Sonic said casually.

Unfortunately, Knuckles heard those last two lines, and shouted "WHAT ABOUT ME?"

But he was too slow, Sonic and Tails had disappeared out of sight.

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**Firstly, this is based off Mario Kart Wii to be specific. Other than that, this was the result, and I like how it came out. If you have any other questions, or interesting suggestions feel free to share! I don't bite... unless you're made out of chocolate... or JellyUltraz. :P**


	2. The Start of a Grand Prix

**When I finished this, I felt it was a little on the short side, especially now that I look at it compared to later chapters. Not that that's a bad thing, though. Some people like those "endless cave" chapters, you know, those super-long ones that would probably make a handful chapters at a reasonable length. But others like those chapters the length of a sentence. People are picky, so that's why stories have filters. Basically that.**

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Sonic Challenges Mario to a Grand Prix!

Chapter 2: The Start of a Grand Prix

"OK, so now that we're all here, ready to go to the Station? Sonic asked, still holding the TV from earlier.

"Which one?" asked Amy.

"The Station."

"Which one?"

"The Station."

"WHICH ONE?!"

"The Station."

Amy stormed off, fuming with rage.

"Why?" asked Knuckles.

"Because I have a need to race."

"We don't even have karts..." stated Shadow. "...or experience.

"Tails built us some." said Sonic gesturing to Tails.

"Yeah! They're designed to match, if not, outclass the karts and bikes of Mario's world! I spent all of last night working on them! I'm proud of the result, to say the least."

"So, I'm guessing we're all ready." Sonic said as he recounted everyone. There was himself, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow, Cream, Blaze, Silver and Rouge. Nine in total. He herded everyone on to a coach.

"Sonic, why are we taking a coach?" Amy asked curiously, suddenly leaning on him. Sonic just gave her a look as he stepped away.

"Ignoring that, it's because the Cyclone stopped working though I doubt we'll all fit on it, and I don't recall any of us having better transportation. At least this isn't a public bus, I can't imagine how I'd survive with those vultures trying to rip off my quills, and I'm clearly not Shadow. He'd easily survive, especially with all those fan-girls he has."

"So, to the Station!" Sonic called to the driver, who was Tails.

. . .

"So, the cup is definitely cancelled, right?" asked Mario.

"Apparently so, since Bowser really ate up the rest of the day." Peach explained while sipping a drink.

"Where do you get this stuff?" Luigi asked while waving his hands about.

"I have my ways." Peach said firmly as her walkie-talkie burst to life.

"Mario, get to the Station now! And bring your friends too." a male voice requested, followed by some loud crunching of what was detected to be an edible mushroomy substance.

"Which one?" Mario asked.

"The Station."

"The Station?"

"The Station."

"Uh...OK?"

"Looks like we know what we're doing." Luigi said.

. . .

In a kind of station, a boy was awaiting Sonic and the others. This particular station had two halves. One half was mainly red, and the other blue…although it looked like it could change somehow. They both had an entrance. This Station connected Mario and Sonic's worlds, and was the easiest way for Mario, Sonic and anyone else from different worlds to meet up. The boy at the station had somewhat dark skin, brown eyes and was dressed in light-blue clothes. This boy was Kid J. Ultraz...but most called him Ultra.

"I can't believe I'm waiting on Sonic, of all people. I would have expected him to be waiting on me!" exclaimed Ultra.

"You're waiting on who?" said Sonic. This startled Ultra, and he smashed Sonic dead on the head with a hand-crafted wooden hammer he pulled out of nowhere, similar to one of Mario's. Sonic fell to the floor, and groaned.

"You shouldn't have startled me like that, you know the kind of stuff I keep here." Ultra said, shaking his head as he strolled over to a cabinet and put his hammer back in there.

"Err, let's just pretend that never happened." Sonic said, rubbing his head. Eventually, the other 8 Sonic characters came out, and they all sat down somewhere.

"I'm kind of hungry. Got anything to eat?" Knuckles asked, listening to his stomach rumble.

"Yeah, there's a new vending machine there. Unlike the terrible ones some of us may know of which are always empty and/or broken and their snacks taste terrible, the ones in this station are better than the food you eat in five-star restraints…in Italy!" Ultra explained, somewhat passionately.

"Mario is sure to disagree with that." Sonic said with a snicker.

"Hey! This vending machine is empty!" Tails called out.

"So is this one!" Silver yelled from another room.

"Hey! Snack thief! Put the snacks down, and put your hands up!" Rouge shouted, directed at the red echidna who was sneaking upstairs with a heap of snacks.

"You can talk, you're a diamond thief!" Knuckles said, still edging up the stairs.

"What's more valuable, snacks or jewels?"

"Snacks!" cheered Yoshi (who entered with Mario, Luigi, DK, Wario, Waluigi, Peach, Daisy and Toad), who tackled Knuckles to the floor instantly. Eventually, Tails jumped in too (there were chocolate bars in there), followed by Rouge, Sonic, Amy (who jumped in to help Sonic), DK (for the bananas), Mario (in an attempt to stop the brawl), Wario and Daisy.

"Animals." Shadow stated.

"For once, I agree with you." Blaze agreed.

"Why must they fight?" Cream asked herself, with Cheese just hiding behind her head.

In that crazy dogfight, there were yells of "Chocolate!" "MINE!" "SONIC!" "Amy?" "Get off me fatso!" "Ook Ooo!" "Mama mia!" "Snack thief!" "Yoshi!" until eventually Shadow strolled near them and yelled "Chaos…BLAST!" The second everyone heard Shadow speak so close to them, they scattered, some managing to snag some snacks. Wario, being the last to get up, was tripped by Shadow and he cancelled his attack to start kicking him over when he made an attempt to get up. All the hits to the butt eventually caused Wario's butt to release the most obnoxious and dangerous smell to man. This hit Shadow straight in the face, and he fell to his knees.

"Hahaha! That's what happens when you mess with the great Wario!" Wario cackled, not effected by his own smelly concoction.

"CURSE..YOU…Wario…" was all that was heard from Shadow until he collapsed. Mario, being the brave one, managed to go back into the scene, pull Shadow out, with the help of Sonic who soon joined him, and pulled him outside.

"Oh, Ultra?" Tails called, taking out some papers.

"Huh? Ah, I nearly forgot about these." Ultra said, and he started to pretend tp quickly scan through the papers.

. . .

Sonic (Medium Class)

Kart = Spiky Speedster

Speed = 72

Weight = 48

Acceleration = 64

Handling = 17

Drift = 42

Off-Road = 49

Mini-Turbo = 29

Bike = Limit Breaker

Speed = 81

Weight = 36

Acceleration = 75

Handling = 24

Drift = 41

Off-Road = 36

Mini-Turbo = 20

_Heh, heh. I like both of them. Tails designed them perfectly for me, all speed. Even though they haven't got much Handling or Mini-Turbo, all I need is speed, 'cause as long as I can get really fast quickly, I'm good to go. I can handle going super-fast, so that's not a problem. I'd like to see any kart/bike faster than these._

Tails (Medium Class)

Kart = Turbo Tails

Speed = 63

Weight = 48

Acceleration = 34

Handling = 56

Drift = 36

Off-Road = 19

Mini-Turbo = 50

Bike = Whirlwind No.2

Speed = 67

Weight = 39

Acceleration = 64

Handling = 44

Drift = 45

Off-Road = 23

Mini-Turbo = 49

_I like to be able to handle things better, but I took a more wild approach to my bike. I don't do that well off the road, and I have a powerful Mini-Turbo on my kart. I tried to make mine go as fast as Sonic or at least be able to keep up with him, but I found it hard to get this close. I hope everyone likes theirs!_

Knuckles (Medium Class)

Kart = Shovel Kart

Speed = 52

Weight = 54

Acceleration = 41

Handling = 46

Drift = 47

Off-Road = 71

Mini-Turbo = 24

Bike = Dirt Bike

Speed = 43

Weight = 38

Acceleration = 46

Handling = 36

Drift = 59

Off-Road = 78

Mini-Turbo = 17

_I can see Tails decided to make mine more dirt based. Well I'm not complaining, since I really like the pair, and I do dig a lot. I outdo Sonic off the road, my turbo is pretty meh, and my Drift is nice. I can handle these pretty decently. You can handle these better than your temper, that's for sure! Sonic ;D_

Amy (Medium Class)

Kart = Rosy Racer

Speed = 63

Weight = 54

Acceleration = 36

Handling = 52

Drift = 62

Off-Road = 16

Mini-Turbo = 48

Bike = Pink Power

Speed = 66

Weight = 41

Acceleration = 39

Handling = 40

Drift = 57

Off-Road = 29

Mini-Turbo = 41

_Tails! Why are my vehicles not fast enough to catch Sonic in his? Aww, the look I made while writing this scared him, oh fine, I'll live with it, because at least mine has excellent Drift with a decent mini-turbo to go with it. I'm a balanced handler, with pretty nice Acceleration a good Speed. Hopefully this will impress Sonic, and then we…why's Sonic giving me that look? _

Shadow (Medium Class)

Kart = Chaotic Kart

Speed = 70

Weight = 52

Acceleration = 48

Handling = 16

Drift = 58

Off-Road = 22

Mini-Turbo = 56

Bike = Shadow Bike

Speed = 75

Weight = 34

Acceleration = 62

Handling = 34

Drift = 31

Off-Road = 63

Mini-Turbo = 24

_I'm only in this to destroy that fat excuse of a driver. But other than that, this better be worth my time. Hmm…though I have to give it to that fox, he made a pretty nice bike._

Rouge (Medium Class)

Kart = Priceless Kart

Speed = 34

Weight = 61

Acceleration = 69

Handling = 41

Drift = 39

Off-Road = 50

Mini-Turbo = 32

Bike = Diamond Bike

Speed = 44

Weight = 46

Acceleration = 65

Handling = 48

Drift = 50

Off-Road = 62

Mini-Turbo = 45

_My my! My bike has diamonds on it! Why thank you Tails! Not only that, my acceleration is wonderful. I truly do owe you one! By the way, where DID you get those lovely diamonds?_

Cream (Medium Class)

Kart = Ice-Cream (no, it's not made out of ice-cream. you're just very, very hungry)

Speed = 50

Weight = 50

Acceleration = 50

Handling = 50

Drift = 50

Off-Road = 50

Mini-Turbo = 50

Bike = Bond Bike

Speed = 55

Weight = 35

Acceleration = 45

Handling = 45

Drift = 55

Off-Road = 55

Mini-Turbo = 45

_Thank you Mister Tails! I love my kart, the back has that swirly ice-cream look on and I sit in a crafted ice-cream cone! It even has an ice-cream dispenser! Cheese loves my bike, especially because there's even a mini-seat for him to sit in!_

Blaze (Medium Class)

Kart = Flame Wheels

Speed = 67

Weight = 49

Acceleration = 28

Handling = 27

Drift = 59

Off-Road = 61

Mini-Turbo = 32

Bike = Blazing Bike

Speed = 72

Weight = 34

Acceleration = 38

Handling = 33

Drift = 49

Off-Road = 26

Mini-Turbo = 64

_Erm, are the flames drawn on the side of my kart supposed to be super-hot? Not that it was a bad addition, but it would have been nice if you gave me a warning. By the way, I love how my bike leaves a trail of fire behind it when it reaches top speed. Sonic, quit tricking Knuckles into touching my kart! You know how weak-minded he is…uh oh, he's charging at me._

Silver (Medium Class)

Kart = Psycho Rampager

Speed = 34

Weight = 50

Acceleration = 46

Handling = 73

Drift = 28

Off-Road = 67

Mini-Turbo = 34

Bike = Psybike

Speed = 50

Weight = 30

Acceleration = 67

Handling = 75

Drift = 24

Off-Road = 49

Mini-Turbo = 28

_Tails, you did a great job with my bike. It has psychic powers, just like me! Good thing you left an instruction booklet, I couldn't figure it out! So, I press this to create a weak force which moderately decreases or increases the speed of any target within medium range of me, excluding myself? I can also use this force them aside and levitate? Awesome! _

. . .

"Goodness, that was a long thing to read." Ultra exclaimed, glad he was done pretending to read the papers. "Hey! I just refilled that vending machine!" Everyone had returned back inside after it was aired out and Shadow's fan-girls revived Shadow with their…strange powers. He managed to escape all the autograph signing and their need to pull, hug, gush at and squeeze him. Ultra put the papers down and took out his hammer, which was green and seemed to have jelly on the flat side.

"Ooo, nice hammer." Mario said.

"Thanks, I spent weeks on it,"

"I see you even cleared it of splinters, just like mine was."

"Yup, now excuse me, I have to get rid of a few vultures who are swarming that machine. HEY! BACK OFF!" Ultra yelled at Knuckles and Yoshi.

"Why'd you only hit me? Yoshi was doing the same thing!" Knuckles whined as he rubbed his head.

"He's well…Yoshi! He can't help it if he eats everything." Luigi explained.

"Besides, you're a knucklehead." Sonic added, infuriating Knuckles.

"Mister Ultra, when are we going to start the races?" Cream asked after Ultra laid a serious beating on Knuckles, and ushered Yoshi away.

"Tomorrow?" Ultra shrugged, and signalled to Sonic.

Cream just nodded.

"SHUT UP!" Amy yelled, quieting everyone and waking up Mario.

"OK, now that we're ready, and we're not killing each other-" Sonic began.

"You forgot about Shadow." Someone stated. Shadow stopped beating up Wario, and nodded.

"OK, now that we're ready, and we're not killing each other if you don't count Shadow, who's always trying to kill someone-"

"Not always. Most of the time." Shadow corrected.

"Thank you very much." Sonic gritted between his teeth. "OK, now that we're ready, and we're not killing each other if you don't count Shadow, who's trying to kill someone most of the time, we will now explain how this is going to work."

"Hurry up and explain!" Knuckles shouted, only to take a hammer to a head from Amy.

"So, there's 4 cups, each with four races in it. 6 of each of our groups will be in a race, switching out 3 random people from that 6 with the waiting 3 for the next race. We randomly pick 6 people for the first race and switch out in the format stated above. Basically, everyone races in at least 2 races a cup. For the fourth race, all 6 people will be randomized. The team who gets the most points from winning high places in the all the races in all four cups win." Mario continued.

"And we'll using this, the Randomiser 4000. Not only does it help solve picking people, but it also spawns pizza, ice-cream and chocolate out of thin air, but it even has a built in TV!" Tails input proudly. "It also keeps-"

"And Wario will be having that pizza now." Wario said firmly, interrupting Tails. The Randomiser made some sounds, and made a "ding!" sounds as a pizza appeared out of nowhere and fell into Wario's grubby hands. Everyone gaped in shock.

"That's what Wario calls magic!"

"Of course, you can make bets on who'll win the races to get free snacks from the vending machine, pizza from the Randomizer or some unknown third thing that doesn't come to mind at this particular moment." Sonic added. "Hey! Knuckles, stay away from my vending machine!"

Knuckles was startled by this, and dropped his snacks and ran.

"You'll never catch me alive, coppers!" Knuckles cried, shaking one of his fists as Yoshi prepared to chase him down and raid him for his food.

* * *

**If you're interested, we're starting with the Mushroom Cup. The first race is Luigi's Circuit.** **Also, those stats are out of 80. And really, I can admit I never knew Mario Kart (or at least the Wii version) was so complicated. O.O**


	3. Luigi's Circuit

Sonic Challenges Mario to a Grand Prix!

Chapter 3: Luigi's Circuit

Sonic burst through the window, landing on the grass of the Mushroom Kingdom and coming to a stop in front of Ultra.

"Something tells me stuff happened last night." Ultra said instantly.

"Yeah…can I ask you a question?"

"You just did." Ultra answered as Sonic made a face.

"Anyway, could you refill the vending machine?" Sonic asked, hearing palm-face connection.

"Who put you up to this?"

"No one, I'm asking you because Tails is about to collapse from being neglected his favourite food for so long. This is chocolate, for your information."

"Did someone empty out the vending machine again?"

"Yeah…"

. . .

"Man, I want to race!" Sonic said impatiently.

"I…need…chocolate…" Tails wailed weakly.

"Ooo, I feel a nasty one coming." Wario said, touching his big belly.

"Permission to blast Wario outside?" Shadow instantly asked.

"Only if you don't break anything." Sonic answered.

"CHAOS…SPEAR!"

"Duck for cover!"

"My leg!"

"Chocolate…"

"Ouch! Wario feels pain!"

There was silence. Only to be broken by Ultra refilling the vending machine. There was a mad scramble to the machine, but everyone forgot you had to pay.

"Anyone have any rings?" Knuckles asked on his knees, ignored until Silver finally decided to spare a few.

"At least SOME people here are nice." Knuckles said, standing up and heading for the machine.

"So, the first race is Luigi Circuit of the Mushroom Cup." Sonic stated.

"That's-a my circuit!" Luigi said proudly.

"Now, using the randomizer, let's see who's racing. I'm guessing you all chose what you were racing in, right?" Sonic asked.

Luigi (B Dasher Mk 2)

"Yes! I knew I'd be first!" Luigi cried happily.

Luigi (B Dasher Mk 2)

Tails (Turbo Tails)

Silver (Psybike)

Peach (Royal Racer)

Amy (Rosy Racer)

Rouge (Diamond Bike)

Knuckles (Shovel Kart)

Cream (Ice-Cream)

Waluigi (Torpedo)

DK (Offroader)

Yoshi (Turbo Blooper)

Daisy (Mach Bike)

"Will there be items?" Sonic asked. The Randomizer made weird sounds, and eventually let out a recorded answer, which was: NO!

"The race will start soon. Everyone, drive to Luigi's Circuit as practice. If you don't know the way, follow me when I leave." Ultra called out. "Also, if you didn't know, this is a 3 lap race."

. . .

**Luigi's Circuit**

"Luigi will win!" Mario cheered without hesitating.

"I agree, this course is named after him." Blaze said.

"Waluigi will win. Wario demands it." Wario said while picking his nose.

"Because you said that, I think Luigi will win." Shadow stated.

"I'm guessing Yoshi will beat the competition."

"Ready?" a girl on a cloud asked.

"Ready!" Luigi, Tails, Daisy, Knuckles, Silver, Peach, Amy, Rouge, Cream, Waluigi, DK and Yoshi shouted.

"3, 2, 1, GO!"

Everyone burst into speed as the race began. Luigi was in last. His kart had stopped suddenly, and everyone left him behind with Waluigi blowing a raspberry at him. Luigi groaned, and Mario who was watching from the sides, jumped in out of nowhere.

"Bro, you OK?" Mario asked.

"My kart isn't working." Luigi said sadly.

"How about I check to see if anything's wrong with it? I saw it working fine this morning."

"OK, you do that."

"Wait, someone clogged a Green Shell in here!" Mario yelled.

"WHAT?"

"You have been sabotaged." Mario stated as he tossed the Green Shell away.

"Aww, now I'm behind."

"Luigi! This is YOUR circuit. You know more about it than I do, and half of the racers haven't even been here before. Look on the bright side, you're a pro at this."

Luigi smiled, revved up his engine, and blasted back into the race.

"Thanks bro!" Luigi called as he raced as fast as he could around the first turn, reading signs saying stuff like Luigi Kart and images of him. This was his turf, he had the advantage. He wasn't going to lose. He was going to win. He was Luigi.

. . .

Fighting for 1st place, DK and Knuckles drifted around a Luigi statue and continued to clash with their karts. Knuckles saw some sand off the road, and decided he'd be faster there, and drove on to it, and he went even faster. DK, considering his kart was called "Offroader" decided he'd be good off-road too, and followed him on, and he too went faster.

"I'm the off-road king!" Knuckles boasted as he passed DK. His off-road stat was definitely higher, but DK started to drift, and got it to a light-blue spark. He released, and gained a boost to keep up with Knuckles, and since he was a heavy character, he could push around a medium no problem, and start to push Knuckles towards the pipes near where the gate to keep in racers was. Knuckles tried going as fast as he could, but DK wouldn't hold up, and his speed was going down quickly. He had to come up with something.

. . .

Luigi drove through the course, using all the secrets to his advantage. Soon he was in 3rd and currently being chased by Tails and Waluigi. The former was somewhat glad to have someone friendly to race with (Waluigi wasn't really much of a nice guy) and the two clashed.

"I just noticed, my kart looks nearly identical to yours, except mine is more yellow." Tails said.

"Well you chose a good design, that's for sure." Luigi said.

The two racers seemed evenly matched, as they clashed on the path. Luigi barely managed to get in front of Tails, but when Tails noticed this, he drifted, getting an orange coloured spark, he released and used that boost to not only catch up to, but pass Luigi. He repeated this till he was ahead. He passed a ramp he didn't see at all, but Luigi saw it, knew about it, and drifted till the sparks were an orange hue, released and used that to keep his speed on the sand till he reached the ramp, where he flew off the ramp beside a red echidna who seemed to have left behind DK.

"Knuckles?" Luigi asked, shocked to see him in the air at the same time.

"That's my name, don't wear it out!" Knuckles said as he spun on his kart on one knuckle in mid-air. He landed and gained a little boost and some decent ground between him and Luigi. Said plumber then realized he forgot to do a trick in the air when he hit the ground, moderately ahead of Tails. They reached slanted ground, and Tails started to drift as he used the boost pads on the slanted ground to maintain a fast speed, just like Luigi and Knuckles did. Luigi forgot about his little trick, and said to himself he'll do it when he gets the chance.

. . .

Waluigi was trying to get away from Peach and Amy who were having a heated battle in their Racers. Peach braked to dodge Amy's onslaught, and drove ahead while Amy nearly fell off her kart from the amount of force he put in the failed kart smash. Peach drifted to an orange glow, and boosted. Waluigi was suddenly bumped from the back by Peach, and his kart nearly tipped over.

"What's wrong with you! You nearly killed Waluigi!" Waluigi complained, shaking a fist. Amy smacked him with her hammer.

"Don't distract her! I want to have a fair race where I win so it's legit! Besides, you don't talk like that to a princess." Amy shouted, hammer ready to whack again.

"Besides, it's not my fault you were in the way! Besides, this isn't a tea party, this is racing, and you should be used to this action, especially with all that failed flirting you've done with Daisy! What happened to: I'm a pro at all sports. How about I give you a lesson or two in racing?" Peach input. Waluigi turned a deep red, and while he was distracted, he started to slow down sharply, which Peach and Amy saw this as an opportunity, and raced past him on to the slanted turn and drifted as they passed all the boost pads, into the next lap, with Peach ahead.

. . .

Yoshi chased after Silver and Rouge as they passed DK, who was stuck in a hole. Silver looked behind him, and felt sorry for DK, and using his abilities to take him and his kart out of the hole, and back in the race. Yoshi raced past Rouge, but Silver used his bike's ability to slow Yoshi down, keeping ahead of him.

"Darn it!" Yoshi cried as his speed was cut in half and Rouge passed him.

"Hey, Wall guy, we're in a race you know." Rouge said bluntly as she zoomed past Waluigi too.

"Wah? Oh! Waluigi was just…thinking of strategies to kick your butt with!" Waluigi said, startled by the sudden challenge.

There were several palm-face connections heard after that statement. Yoshi braked, drove in place, and used the spark boost to break the psychic hold. Yoshi cheered, and scraped the side of Silver's bike, and was about to pass him, until DK knocked the two away from each other, nearly knocking them off the road and having them tip out of their vehicles, but they barely managed to keep their balance. Silver decided to drive off the road since he was faster on there anyway, and soon hit the ramp in the sand, and did some tricks, gaining a boost as he landed back on the track. Yoshi zoomed after him, drifted on the boost pads and rocketed past DK, Rouge and Silver in that order. He was on to the second lap.

. . .

Daisy and Cream raced head to head. Cream made great use of her ice-cream dispenser, and ate some.

"Hey, could I have some, Cream?" Daisy asked politely, but without much of her usual energy.

"Of course! OK, I'm turning on the back dispenser, so drive to the back of my kart, get a cup, and put it under the nozzle." Cream said, reading the instructions Tails left for her. Daisy did as she asked, and ice-cream landed in the cup.

"Thanks!" Daisy said as she took out a cone and dropped a scoop into it. She gulped it in one go and put her determined look back on.

"Remember, I won't go easy on you, OK?" Daisy said as she gripped her wheel, yet she seemed to not want to.

"Yup, go all out!" Cream cheered.

Daisy half-heartedly zoomed past Cream, and she instantly went full throttle after her. It was a high speed race. They passed a starting line, and went into the 2ndlap, where they passed Waluigi soon after, followed by Rouge and Silver, and DK who managed to get past both of them. Cream drifted, bumping into Daisy, and pushing her into the sand, knowing she wasn't that good off-road, especially on that bike. But Daisy knew what she had to do, and made it out of the sand to do a tight turn to get back to going forward and getting a light blue spark boost, catching up and bumping Cream closer to the sand. Daisy kept directing all her speed into pushing Cream into the sand. Her kart was heavier, She was pushed on to the sand, and Daisy cheered at her feat and expected Cream's speed to go down. To her shock, because of how balanced she was in everything, it didn't even slightly effect her speed. It was like she was driving on the same ground.

"What?" Daisy said, shocked.

"I'm a balanced person. I race on mud, road, sand, anything, and it doesn't effect how well I do. It's all the same to me. And that's just the same for my kart. I have no advantage, but no disadvantage." Cream explained with a smile. Daisy had her mouth wide open after hearing those words, and Cream just jumped off the ramp, and did a few tricks with Cheese, gaining a boost on her landing. Daisy woke up from her shock and a drove after her, taking the normal route.

. . .

Luigi and Tails were locked in a heated race. Knuckles, who was still in first, used his kart to dig a new shortcut, which the duo followed. The tunnel was shaped like an "O" with a closed ceiling. They drove through the tunnel, and since it was big enough for only 3 bikes or 2 karts, Tails knew if he drove in the middle, Luigi couldn't get past. So he did so, and drove as fast as he could. Luigi however soon realized there was a way past. He drove as fast as he could too. Luigi was slightly faster than Tails, so he had a nice advantage. Once he was at top speed, Luigi drove to the rounded wall, and slowly made his way up it, with his kart latching on. When he made it to the rounded roof, he drove past Tails.

"Look up!" Luigi shouted. Tails looked, and saw Luigi.

"Wah! Don't scare me!" Tails screamed, panicking.

"Oh, sorry."

"I forgot it was possible to do that. I should of thought things through better." Tails said, now calmed.

"This shortcut leads to near that statue of Luigi here, if you're interested." Knuckles called out. Luigi then attempted to make his way down from the rounded roof, succeeded, and shot out of the hole, shortly followed by Tails.

. . .

Peach swerved out of the way of a oncoming hammer. Amy was trying to slow down Peach's kart with a swing of her hammer. Peach just kept dodging, and Amy kept swinging. Amy was being offensive, while Peach was being defensive. Peach dodged yet another hammer swing, and drifted till she got a light blue boost, and attempted to keep her distance by using drift-boosts. Amy however, caught on to this and did the same, but Peach had a better Mini-Turbo. Amy saw the hole Knuckles dug and decided to try and go inside, but her kart bounced off of the rim, and she did a trick instead. Peach stared at the hole in wonder.

"How did that get here? Monty Moles perhaps?" Peach thought, her thought interrupted as she was also in the air, and did a trick too just in time to land. She made it past Amy again, and Amy attempted a whack. This one connected, and sharply reduced Peach's speed. Amy winked at her as she drove off. But Peach had high Acceleration in her kart, so it took no more than a second for her to catch up using her drift-boost trick. Peach passed Amy yet again, and she attempted a hammer whack yet again. She missed, and decided this was a reckless strategy, especially at this critical point of the match and focused on getting ahead.

"Bye!" Yoshi called, passing Amy. She was too focused on slowing Peach down that she forgot to check behind her for approaching racers, and she paid the price for it.

. . .

Daisy and Cream kept on racing. Daisy was slightly faster than Cream, but she was able to lose hardly any speed off-road, putting pressure on Daisy. Even though she could pass Cream after a while of trying, that didn't mean Cream would let her focus on speed for so long. Plus she could easily block her off. This was going to be tough. As they passed the hole Knuckles dug, she saw an opening to the right. Daisy instantly drift-boosted towards the opening. Cream noticed this, and decided to give her back dispenser another use. She pressed a button, and ice-cream came shooting out, nearly hitting Daisy if she didn't dodge it. Daisy dodged the ice-cream, attempting to eat some, but to no avail. Cream swerved to the right, and Daisy leaned left. Then she suddenly trapped herself. She had to either slow down, or go through the ice-cream. Cream didn't let her decide, and slowly drove to the left. Daisy thought fast and did a wheelie, blocking the ice-cream and maintaining her speed. Cream then remembered her ice-cream was limited, and saved the rest for eating. She drifted, got a orange colour, and boosted past the exit of the hole Knuckles dug. Daisy bounced off it for a trick-boost, and when she looked at the hole, she saw DK come flying out of it and landing quite a way behind her. She started to feel dizzy, but kept going.

. . .

Amy was chasing after Yoshi, who was approaching Peach. Amy and Yoshi soon caught up to Peach, since her top speed was moderately slower than the two. Amy swung at Yoshi, but the dinosaur drifted around the attack and boosted next to Peach. Yoshi waved, and passed her too. Amy wasn't going to sit here and let her lose, so she went full-throttle and passed Peach AND Yoshi. Yoshi didn't notice, and kept driving like nothing happened, but Peach instantly reacted with some drift-boosting, passing Amy yet again. Yoshi just noticed now that Amy and Peach had passed him, and got back into it.

. . .

Waluigi was trailing at last, being watched by Silver.

"This is your comeuppance for all those tricks you've pulled on me." Silver snickered.

"Aww, that doesn't mean you have to keep Waluigi in last." Waluigi wailed as Rouge passed Silver.

"You're just making excuses for failing so hard." Silver said. "I'm not doing anything to slow you down."

Silver sped off. Waluigi revved up his engine, but it coughed and spurted out smoke. Maybe he was failing hard...but Waluigi was definitely not admitting that.

. . .

Cream and Daisy continued to go head-to-head. They could pass each other, but couldn't get enough distance from each other. DK intervened, and separated the two quickly though. Then the monkey proceeded to drive through the middle, until Cream decided to stop him, and bash him to the sand. Daisy braked to dodge the monkey, and accelerated to the right of him, also giving him a nudge. DK drifted on the sand, and did a U-turn, sending Daisy flying backwards in her kart, and DK drove on the spot, regained his direction, and nudged Cream into a wall, stopping her completely. Donkey Kong grinned sheepishly, and drove off. Daisy eventually recovered from that bash, and drift-boosted till she caught up to him. Cream used her ice-cream, shedding a tear at the thought of not getting to have much of it, and blasted it backwards, boosting her in front of DK and blasted some in his face. DK got soaked in it, and his kart instantly had a sharp speed loss. Then she bashed him several times into the sand, lowering his speed slightly, and she drove on. DK moved back on to the path, and chased after Cream. Daisy was faster than DK, and passed him easily.

. . .

Yoshi zoomed after Amy, who nearly whacked Yoshi's head clean off at the sudden shock of him being RIGHT behind him, but luckily he ducked.

"Sheesh, I know you like using that hammer everywhere, but could you please try not to whack my head clean off? That thing is like an axe, you know. At the very least, aim for my kart." Yoshi said, grabbing his head from the shock and steering with his feet.

"Sorry, natural instinct." Amy said, staring at her Piko-Piko Hammer.

Peach still had the lead out of these three, and intended to keep it. Amy and Yoshi remembered they were fighting for high spots, and suddenly started to race again. Amy swung her hammer as they were about to connect again, and sent Yoshi into a spin. Amy sighed from how tense that was, and drove towards Peach. Amy brought her hammer into the air, and smashed it into something. That something being the road. Peach hid a snicker at that, and Yoshi passed Amy as she attempted to pull it out of the ground. Just as Yoshi was directly in front of her, she managed to pull it out, hitting the back underbelly of Yoshi's kart, nearly tipping it over. Yoshi regained his balance by Ground Pounding the kart, but this reduced his speed, allowing Amy to pass him.

. . .

Tails and Luigi completely missed each other, and Knuckles was so close to being knocked into the gate by the front of Luigi's kart. Knuckles was suddenly scraped by the side of Tails' car, and remembered that Luigi's kart and Tails' kart were both faster than him on the road, so he went off-road to avoid being out-classed on the road, and started heading to the ramp. But being Knuckles, he completely forgot Tails and Luigi had no reason to go off road, and they would go even faster than him now. Knuckles then noticed he was passed by both of them, and the duo both drifted onto the ramp, at the same time as Knuckles did, and all three of them did a trick in mid-air. When Tails landed, he instantly headed for the boost pads. Knuckles did the same thing, but got to top speed faster, though his was lower than Tails, so in the long run, when Tails hit top speed just by touching one of the pads, Knuckles started to become left behind. Luigi however drifted till he got orange, and drift-boosted on to the sand with all the pipes scattered there. He didn't lose speed for a while, and managed to get out of the sand before his speed hit rock bottom. He picked up speed again quite quickly, and saw Tails and Knuckles gaining on him, the former closer than the latter. But it was too late, the shortcut gave him so much time, that it wasn't even close between him and Tails. Knuckles came shortly after.

. . .

Yoshi, Amy and Peach were on the boost pads. It was tense, but Peach managed to drift-boost at the last second, passed Yoshi and accidentally pushed him which slowed him and allowing Amy to finish after Peach instead.

. . .

Cream and Daisy were locked in the very same tense race, and neither were about to let up, until the end when Daisy suddenly slowed down when she was about to win, and Cream beat her. She gave Daisy a look to ask what happened, but Daisy just groaned for a unknown reason.

"Are you OK? You don't look that good." Cream asked, worried.

"I'm fine! Just the rush of the race!" Daisy said, showing a thumbs up. Cream didn't look too convinced, but accepted her response as DK finished too, shortly followed by Rouge, then Silver.

. . .

Waluigi drove past the finish line, and stopped. He was shocked. He was doing so well at the start, but his kart suddenly started acting up.

"FINISH!" Ultra yelled. "OK, we're heading back to The Station, pack your karts, and let's go."

"Hmph, you're not my boss. I am the ULTIMATE." Shadow said defiantly as Ultra made a face. "I'm choosing to go back to that place.

. . .

Back at The Station, they were greeted by the same girl on the cloud from the start.

"Welcome back!" she said, smirking while in "her" cloud.

"Please tell me you asked for that cloud from Lakitu?" Ultra asked.

"What? No hellos?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"I'm more worried about the cloud." Ultra answered. "Also, if anyone here didn't know, this is Demi…my cousin."

"Let's just say I _borrowed_ it." Demi said, sweat-dropping. Ultra rolled his eyes.

As everyone got comfortable inside again, someone knocked on the door. Ultra was about to open it, when the door was broken down by a Spiny.

"Demi, please tell me you DID ask for the cloud?" Ultra called.

"She didn't. She snuck in my house, went into my bathroom, snagged my cloud while I was in the shower, and made me chase her all the way here in my night gear." Lakitu growled.

"Err, yeah, we kind of need the cloud for our Grand Prix. She was supposed to be the one who counts down for the race to begin and the score-keeper. So could we just borrow it until this is over?" Ultra asked nervously.

"Although it's my job, I think I've gotten enough payback just from breaking your door. But you better give it back after this Grand Prix of yours, kid." Lakitu said as Silver cracked up.

"He called you your name and didn't at the same time!" Silver yelled out, cracking up on the floor in laughter. Ultra threw a brick at Silver, knocking him out.

"Someone's gonna have to fix that door..." Ultra trailed.

"Anyway, what IS the score?" Mario asked, changing the topic.

"I just updated the Randomizer with the scores. It keeps scores too, you know." Demi said, pointing at the machine.

**Race Results**

Luigi - 1st - 15 points

Tails - 2nd - 12 points

Knuckles - 3rd - 10 points

Peach - 4th - 8 points

Amy - 5th - 7 points

Yoshi - 6th - 6 points

Cream - 7th - 5 points

Daisy - 8th - 4 points

DK - 9th - 3 points

Rouge - 10th - 2 points

Silver - 11th - 1 point

Waluigi - 12th - 0 points

**Total Results (Races done)**

Luigi - 1st - 15 points (1)

Tails - 2nd - 12 points (1)

Knuckles - 3rd - 10 points (1)

Peach - 4th - 8 points (1)

Amy - 5th - 7 points (1)

Yoshi - 6th - 6 points (1)

Cream - 7th - 5 points (1)

Daisy - 8th - 4 points (1)

DK - 9th - 3 points (1)

Rouge - 10th - 2 points (1)

Silver - 11th - 1 point (1)

Waluigi - 12th - 0 points (1)

Mario - 12th - 0 points (0)

Wario - 12th - 0 points (0)

Toad - 12th - 0 points (0)

Blaze - 12th - 0 points (0)

Sonic - 12th - 0 points (0)

Shadow - 12th - 0 points (0)

**Team Results**

Team Sonic - 1st - 37

Team Mario - 2nd - 36

"Yeah! We're winning!" Sonic cheered, along with a few other Team Sonic members.

"By one point." Shadow added.

"Don't ruin the mood!" Knuckles groaned as he banged on the vending machine in frustration.

"Eh, we'll catch up." Luigi said casually.

"Yeah, it's only been one race." Mario added.

"Are we going to do the next race today?" Tails asked.

"Of course, as long as nothing goes wrong." Sonic explained.

"Sonic, can I have some chocolate for my efforts?" Tails asked pleadingly.

"Yeah, sure, knock yourself out. You earned it." Sonic said casually as he tossed Tails 4 rings.

"Thanks, Sonic!" Tails said joyfully as he flew to the vending machine, but nearly lost his rings as Knuckles tried to snag them. Sadly, he did not know what Tails would do for chocolate, and paid the price as Tails jumped in the air and Knuckles was hit by a bicycle kick to the face which sent him flying into some bins. Tails then hummed as he inserted the rings, and got a couple of chocolate bars, which he ate happily.

"That kid is something else." Rouge said, shocked by the scene.

* * *

**I'm shocked I managed to make Luigi's Circuit last as long as it did. That course is unbelievably short, so it was a challenge stretching it out this long, but I managed. And I actually didn't plan for Team Sonic (which I now realize is pretty much a Sonic Heroes reference) to be one point ahead, it just sort of...happened, and I went with it. Also, for those of you who want to know that don't, the next course in the Mushroom Cup is Moo Moo Meadows.**


	4. The Cow, The Cream and the Meadow

Sonic Challenges Mario to a Grand Prix!

Chapter 4: The Cow, The Cream and The Meadow

"Ugh, where am I?"

"His injury isn't major at all, but it's bad enough to keep him out of the next race." Dr Mario answered.

"Plumber, doctor, teacher, hero, artist, dancer, racer, multi-sportsman, what AREN'T you Mario?" Sonic asked.

That question dumb-founded Mario, so he answered with a simple shrug.

"I didn't even know Tails could do those kinds of moves." Amy said, still shocked.

"I told ya Tails will do what he has to do to get chocolate." Sonic simply said.

"I have to say, that fox impressed me. Perfectly executing a bicycle kick and managing to strike that echidna in the face, sending him flying." Shadow said.

"Hello? Red echidna here asking a question?" Knuckles called.

"Oh, you're still in The Station. Tails hit you in the face with a bicycle kick, and injured your upper-body by crashing into the bins, especially your arms and your back. You were out for a whole day, so we had to cancel the races. But don't worry, they seem to nearly be fine now, just give them a couple of hours." Amy explained.

"We're definitely racing today though. Everyone's getting impatient. If you're lucky, you'll be able to race in the course after the one we're doing first, Moo Moo Meadows." Mario said, changing out of his Doctor clothes. Knuckles suddenly felt someone tug on his arm. He rolled over on his bed, and saw Tails holding out a pizza.

"I'M SORRY!" Tails wailed as he cried on Sonic's shoulder.

"It wasn't THAT bad! Besides, I'm more impressed than hurt. Where'd you learn that?" Knuckles asked while noming on his pizza..

"Mario took me on a trip to Toad Town once, and we saw this dojo. Mario explained "The Master" lived there, and he trained all who wished to be trained. I asked Mario if we could go there, and we did. He taught me all kinds of attacks and self-defence moves. That's how." Tails explained, wiping off the remaining tears.

"Wow." Knuckles said after finishing his pizza.

"Anyway, can we start racing now?" Sonic asked impatiently.

"I agree with the hedgehog. I'm eager to watch some races." Demi added, trying to get back in her cloud.

"First, we need to see who's leaving and joining the race, Sonic." Mario told Sonic.

"Oh yeah!" Sonic remembered as he kicked a button the Randomizer and the results came out.

**Moo Moo Meadows (3 Lap Race)**

Cream (Bond Bike)

Toad (Blue Falcon)

Peach (Royal Racer)

Shadow (Shadow Bike)

Wario (Wario Bike)

Sonic (Spiky Speedster)

Mario (B Dasher Mk 2)

Blaze (Blazing Bike)

Silver (Psycho Rampager)

Amy (Rosy Racer)

DK (Flame Flyer)

Daisy (Mach Bike)

**Items: **OFF

**Team Mario: **36

**Team Sonic: **37

"I changed the look." Tails explained.

"Ah, that's why it looks slightly different." Sonic said.

"There's only one thing we need to do before we can start." Peach started.

"What?" Sonic asked.

"Well it would have been incredibly hard if we didn't have Sonic here, but since he is, this'll be quick." Peach said.

"What do you want me to do?"

"Remember the Leaf Cup?" Mario asked.

"Yeah, I watched that on TV."

"Good, that'll make the explanation easier."

. . .

_"Incoming!" Toad shouted, ploughing through Dry Bones, breaking him and his kart once again, and Toad not even losing a fraction of his speed as he continued to blast through the jungle and across the bridge, through the cave and out all over again._

_"Karma." Koopa, Toadette and Daisy all said as they crossed the bridge, leaving Dry Bones behind. Daisy and Koopa quickly dodged the flames from Bowser, and finished without a word in that order. Toadette however was constantly nearly getting hit, and one of them would have if it wasn't for Toad again zooming past and deflecting it. Toadette blinked as Toad whizzed by, still unable to control his speed. As she came out of the cave, she finished safely._

_"Was that Toad?" Toadette asked, with a hint of shock in her voice._

_"Yup." Yoshi said, pointing at Toad in his kart, who was held by DK with the wheels of the vehicle still spinning madly._

_"Thanks DK; I would have kept going if you didn't stop me with your amazing strength." Toad said, finally calmed._

_DK nodded, then took him out of his kart, and as soon as it hit the ground, it kept going. The kart zoomed off the edge, and eventually vaulted out of the water, going who knows where._

_. . ._

"Well, you see, that was Toad's favourite kart. The Blue Falcon." Peach said once the flashback ended, patting a sad Toad's head while Demi continued to struggle getting in the cloud.

"We had no idea how to catch it, but then we realized you were here, and could catch it no problem." Yoshi finished. Sonic had a face which could be described as "SO HAPPY".

"Finally! A chance for me to run somewhere!" Sonic cheered. "Err, where is it anyway?"

"Mushroom Gorge."

Sonic was gone before anyone noticed.

. . .

He ran into a cave, and soon found the kart bouncing across some giant red mushrooms. Sonic jumped, and homing attacked the closest mushroom and bounced off of it, then chased the kart this way. Soon the kart hit land, and Sonic did just as quick. He started running after it, leaped to catch it, and skimmed it with his hand, making it U-turn and Sonic nearly fell off a cliff. He got himself back on, and zoomed after it. Within a second he was already next to it, but he suddenly fell with the kart off a cliff, only to bounce on a couple of mushrooms onto a wooden bridge. Sonic lunged towards it, snagging just before it fell off the bridge on to some more mushrooms.

"Phew! You're a wild one, aren't you?" Sonic said to the kart. Its wheels slowly went to a stop.

. . .

"When I caught it, it suddenly cooled down." Sonic said as he placed the kart next to Toad.

"Maybe it ran out of Golden Mushroom fuel at last." Toad guessed as he hugged his kart.

"Does this cloud make me look fat?" Demi asked, finally in her cloud again.

"It makes you look like a Lakitu." Ultra answered instantly, trying to figure out a map. Tails walked over and pointed at the next location for him. "So, we're off to Moo Moo Meadows."

"How do you get there anyway?" Luigi asked.

"I have my own vehicles." Ultra said defensively as he jumped in his own kart. "I just don't get to race in them."

"This time, I'll impress Sonic by winning this race!" Amy said, raising her hammer in the air.

"You do know I'm IN the race?" Sonic said, as he raced off. Mario and Toad drove out after him.

"Now that I'm in this race, I'll be able to DESTROY WARIO!" Shadow cackled. "Or at least kick his butt in this race."

"Why do you even hate him? Not that I like him either though." Rouge asked.

"Don't you remember what happened a couple of days ago?" Shadow answered and asked as he zoomed out.

Rouge recalled the scene, and drove out, followed by Cream, Wario, Blaze, Silver and the rest of them.

. . .

**On the route to Moo Moo Meadows**

"Finally! I'm in a race!" Sonic cheered in his kart. "I bet no one's more pumped than me!"

"The only person more excited than you is Cream." Mario said. "All you need to do is to look at her face."

"When you get there, you'll love it. It's so peaceful there, and the cows are nice as long as you don't annoy them. Even the Monty Moles there only dig and jump out of their holes most of the time! There's also this ranch, and they sell this milk called Moo Moo Milk, it's really nice, I'll show you when you get there, and the smell of the air there is so fresh and the…" Toad went on, with Cream's face looking more and more excited by the second.

"Is that it over there?" Cream asked.

"Yup!" Toad confirmed.

. . .

**Moo Moo Meadows**

After some extended sight-seeing time, everyone got into racing positions. Cream sipped the last of the Moo Moo Milk Toad got her from the ranch shop.

"Thanks, Toad! That milk was delicious!" Cream called to Toad, getting on her bike.

"No problem! I knew you'd like this place!" Toad called out from the other side of the track.

"Hello? I need you all ready?" Demi cried, unheard by everyone except Sonic, Mario, Cream, Peach, Toad and Blaze.

"Are you OK, Daisy?" Peach asked, slightly concerned for her friend. She wasn't acting the same lately.

"As pumped as ever! Don't worry about me!" Daisy replied, making several acrobatic movements to prove she was fine.

"OK then…" Peach said, even more worried as she looked away. Moments later, she sneaked a glance at Daisy, but couldn't find any proof something was wrong with her.

"I hope don't burn this peaceful place with my bike…" Blaze said, looking at her bike's wheels.

"Hello? Still waiting?" Demi asked again.

…no response.

"You asked for this." Demi said as she took out a bob-omb and a racket, threw the bob-omb in the air, and smacked it into the middle of the racers with her racket when it was within hitting distance. She had made it so the bob-omb blew up in mid-air slightly above of everyone. This got everyone's attention.

"Thank you. Now, ready?" she asked, getting out her countdown light and dangling it on her fishing rod in front of her cloud.

"Ready!" Cream, Toad, Peach, Shadow, Wario, Sonic, Mario, Blaze, Silver, Amy, DK, and Daisy all shouted in unison.

"Then, 3, 2, 1, GO!" Demi shouted, accidentally dropping her countdown light onto the track. "Oops, it slipped out of my grip. Redo!"  
Everyone groaned as they got back into position.

"OK, ready again?" she asked once she retrieved her countdown light and dangled it on her fishing rod in front of her cloud again.

"Ready!" Cream, Toad, Peach, Shadow, Wario, Sonic, Mario, Blaze, Silver, Amy, DK, and Daisy all shouted in unison.

"Then, 3, 2, 1, GO!" Demi shouted, flying to the side once she finished.

Everyone zoomed out of the starting positions, none left behind.

Sonic soared out of his starting position, getting chased down by Mario.

"I'll be the one to win this race!" Shadow stated, driving off on his bike.

"Wario will make sure that never happens! Wario will win!" Wario growled, following Shadow.

Sonic was leading the race currently, followed by Mario, Wario, Shadow, Blaze, DK, Cream, Toad, Daisy, Peach, Amy and Silver.

. . .

"I WILL DESTROY YOU WARIO." Shadow said emotionlessly.

"Wario laughs at your feeble attempt to beat the great Wario! HA HA HA!" Wario cackled.

Shadow did a back-flip on his bike and disappeared.

"HA HA HA HA HUH?" Wario stopped laughing. He looked around. Shadow was nowhere to be found.

Shadow then popped up behind Wario, and poked him. The scream Wario let out was probably the weirdest scream you've probably ever heard. Shadow was laughing his head off.

. . .

"Uh…that was…odd." Blaze said, wide-eyed at the sudden screaming.

"Ook! Ook!" DK agreed, attempting to pass Blaze by bashing her into a gate.

Blaze caught on to this, and went full throttle. She zoomed even further ahead of the monkey, leaving a scorching trail of fire behind her path. DK swerved around the line of fire, trying to not get burned. Eventually, Cream showed up and ended up catching up to DK, passing him.

At the point of reaching the part of the course where it became a Z path with cows possibly getting in the way, DK drove on to the grass, and performed a simple short-cut, passing Cream AND Blaze. He did a dance in his kart, and continued driving.

Blaze saw a cow trapped under the tractor, and went out of her way to blaze through it, blasting it away. The cow got up, unscathed, and mooed in thanks. Blaze shrugged, and chased down DK.

. . .

Toad dodged a mix of flames, cows AND tractor parts, and reached a blue ramp. He zoomed off of it, doing several tricks before landing ahead of Cream and Blaze. Toad waved, and started making distance between him and the two girls.

Blaze engulfed herself and her bike into flames, and rocketed past Toad, and starting to leave another trail of fire behind her. Cream was unable to dodge the fire…so she did a wheelie at full throttle, and a rainbow appeared to take her over the dangerous fire and she landed next to Toad, who gaped at what he just saw.

"Who makes these bikes?" Toad asked.

"Mister Tails does. He's really proud of his work."

Toad then reached max speed, and managed to catch up to Blaze after flying off a boost ramp. Once he landed, they both went super-fast, feeling the wind rush by their faces. They zoomed past DK, and entered the second lap. Cheese, who had been sleeping on Cream's head until now, woke up and flew to a button labelled "OVERDRIVE". He pushed it out of curiosity, and suddenly, Cream was going crazy-fast, leaving a rainbow in her trails.

. . .

Peach couldn't help but worry about Daisy. She hadn't been the same since the races started. Something was wrong with her…

"Uh…Peach? Why are you looking at me like that?" Daisy asked nervously while driving around a cow.

"No reason."

"OK, then…" Daisy replied.

Amy bumped into Peach, knocking her out of her worried state. Peach remembered she was in a race, and there was time to think about this later. Peach bumped Amy back, nearly making her hit a cow.

"That was uncalled for!" Amy shouted, except Peach had already managed to get away and catch up to Daisy in mid-air.

Amy went flying off the blue ramp, and pulled her hammer back. When she landed, the hammer hit the ground, sending all nearby Monty Moles to shoot up, one hitting Peach. The princess spun out of control, and crashed into Silver, who groaned from the sudden pain.

"This is just not my day." Silver moaned.

Peach gave Silver an apologetic look, and helped him back into his kart. She then jumped back into hers, and zoomed off.

. . .

DK drove across the grass again, passing Wario and Shadow.

"Get out of Wario's way!" Wario growled, running over a poor cow.

Shadow continued trying to hit Wario with Chaos Spear while maintaining his lead against him. Unfortunately, he wasn't having much luck. Wario bulldozed another two cows, and they were slowly getting angrier.

Shadow accidentally blasted a cow when Wario swerved out of the way of another Chaos Spear, bruising the innocent animal.

"MOO!" it cried as it attempted to get up.

Wario pushed the cow over as he passed it, and laughed…until a Chaos Spear entered his mouth. His butt then started vibrating…and he let out a obnoxious, terrible fart. The gas propelled him into Shadow, and he was flung into the air. Shadow took this chance to do some tricks, making his fan-girls who had their own separate stand (because they didn't mix well with the normal audience) squeal and faint.

Wario left behind a trail of stink, so when Shadow landed, he started coughing. Wario looked behind him, expecting to see Shadow passed out, but apparently, he wasn't even in sight.

"WAH HA HA!" Wario chuckled. "He must have not been able to handle the stench of the great Wario's fart!"

He turned back to focus on running over the Monty Moles. He punched a Monty Mole who tried to jump out of the ground, sending it over the fence. One of the Monty Moles saw this, and glared at the fat driver. The same Monty Mole popped out of the ground and flipped his bike over.

At that very moment, a coughing Shadow came out of nowhere, bouncing off Wario's head and landing back on the ground. He approached the boost ramp, and once he soared into the air, Shadow charged up, and let loose one carefully aimed Chaos Spear, knocking Wario (who had got back on track and flew off the ramp) out of the air and into a patch of grass. Due to him being focused on blasting Wario out of the sky, he didn't get any boost from doing tricks…but at least he landed on the road and was able to swerve 'round another circle of grass, into the final lap.

. . .

Cream, Blaze and Toad were in a very heated battle. Cream was leaving a trail of rainbows behind her, Blaze was leaving a trail of fire, and Toad was leaving a trail of dust. All three of them were rocketing through the Meadows at high speeds, in the league of Sonic's kart.

Cream and Blaze started criss-crossing past each other, with Toad taking on the rainbows and fire head on, and going through the middle of it. His bravery paid off, and he was soon ahead of the girls. Blaze noticed this, and engulfed herself in flames. She fired herself up, and she started driving faster, leaving a raging flame behind her.

"You won't beat me!"

"Sorry, but I have to." Toad nodded, driving off.

Blaze wasn't going to give up so easily, and her bike went even faster, blazing across the grass and having some close calls with cows.

"MOO!"

Cream saw some of the injured cows (due to being run over, blasted, etc.), and jumped off her bike. Her eyes watered, and she stopped her bike.

. . .

"GO SHADOW GO! GO SHADOW GO! GO SHADOW GO! GO SHADOW GO!" the fan-girls cheered.

"Ugh…they've been shouting that for the whole race…" Knuckles groaned, still

Waluigi stood up, and walked to the stand the fan-girls were all on.

"Waluigi says SHUT UP. You're giving Waluigi a headache." Waluigi interrupted.

Some of the fan-girls hissed at him, while any who didn't gave him a dark look. They were all glaring at him like he insulted them.

"Hater…let's get him girls!" one of the girls shouted.

Waluigi let out a cry before getting mobbed by fan-girls. Knuckles just backed off, rubbing his back as he did so. Yoshi and Luigi followed suit, not wanting to end up like Waluigi.

"You see people…this is why you don't mess with fan-girls." Tails stated, hiding behind Luigi.

"I have to admit, they're quite vicious." Knuckles admitted.

"I wouldn't go near them…even for FOOD from the vending machine." Yoshi said.

. . .

"You're too slow!" Sonic teased.

Mario sweat-dropped as he passed a big blue barn. How in the world was he going to catch up to Sonic? Sonic starting driving on the Z shaped part of the road, and accidentally drove over a piece of grass a cow was about to eat. Sonic noticed the cows looked a lot better than they did earlier for some reason, but he shrugged and knew it was a good thing. Mario drove past the same cow, and saw the angry look on its face. The poor thing must have been through a lot today. It stomped its feet, causing the other cows to glare at Mario and Sonic. They sweat-dropped, and started driving REALLY slowly to not set them off like mines. One of Mario's wheels hit a rock, and it made the most terrifying sound…

BUMP.

The lead cow let out a loud moo, and this made all the cows start running at Mario and Sonic.

"COWPEDE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" Mario cried, driving as fast as he could, Sonic doing the same.

Mario and Sonic raced around the Z shaped part of the road, and drove onwards. They reached the blue ramp, and quickly zoomed off of it into the air. They glanced behind them, to see cows flying into the air. They also saw a kart fly into the air with them, and it soared over their heads, landing far ahead of the duo.

"ACK! FLYING COWS!" Sonic cried, not paying attention to the kart ahead of them.

The cows landed quite skilfully, and continued to chase the two who fully enraged them.

"MOO! MOO! MOO!"

Sonic reached the boost ramp at the end, and flew off it. Mario quickly touched it too, and was propelled into the air as well. The cows all piled on to it, and they were flung into the air.

"MOO! MOO! MOO! MOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"THESE ARE SOME PERSISTENT COWS!" Mario shouted over the mooing.

Sonic hit the ground first, and headed for the finish line, Mario was unlucky enough to land in the grass, and the cows got to him…and rammed his kart, making him rocket past Sonic, who was close to the finish line. He saw another racer, just about to finish the race too, but couldn't tell who it was…Mario was moving too fast to see properly. Whoever it was barely finished before him, and Sonic moaned, coming third. The cows managed to corner Mario and Sonic out of their karts, and slowly closed in on them.

"This may be our last race…" Sonic gulped.

"I'm actually expecting someone or something to get us out of this situation." Mario admitted.

"Wait!" Cream cried. "Don't hurt them, they didn't mean any harm!"

"CREAM?!" Mario and Sonic asked in unison. "Did you pass us?"

"Yes. I stopped to help these poor, injured cows, and for some reason, I went even faster once I got back on my bike…and ended up beating both of you."

"Actually, that's because the Bond Bike is a very unique bike. The more friendly the user, the faster it can go." Tails explained, running up to Mario, Sonic and Cream. "It was basically the perfect bike for Cream, seeing how friendly she is."

"Oh…that's how." Sonic realized. "Good job, Cream!"

"Thanks, Mister Sonic!"

. . .

Toad soared off the ramp like an eagle, landing perfectly and getting a nice orange drift to boost past DK. The monkey gaped at how he was passed at the last second, and ended up coming 5th. Blaze shrugged, and took 6th without any complaints. At least she didn't come last, and sixth wasn't half-bad.

. . .

Shadow was actually laughing as he came in seventh and Wario came in ninth due to Silver passing him and claiming eighth. The only reason Shadow and Wario didn't place higher was because Wario flew off a ramp, and got stuck in a tree. Shadow fell off his bike in laughter, and was passed by several racers.

. . .

"GET BACK IN THE GAME!" Amy shouted, swinging her hammer in front of Daisy to wake her up. Daisy wasn't actually sleeping…she was just…blanking out. Peach shook Daisy, and that did it.

"Huh? What?" Daisy asked, now active again.

"You've acting a bit weird lately." Peach stated in a worried tone.

"Oh, no, I'm fine." Daisy answered quickly.

"Hmm…" Peach thought, crossing the finish line and claiming tenth, Daisy taking 11th. Amy groaned, and claimed last.

. . .

"SONIC! I'M SORRY I CAME LAST! PLEASE DON'T BE MAD!" Amy cried, on the floor and grabbing Sonic's feet.

"It doesn't really matter…but I will be if you don't let go my feet." Sonic said casually.

Ultra was sleeping like a log on one of the chairs near the finish line. Demi floated over to him slowly and put away her fishing rod.

"THE RACE IS OVER!" Demi yelled.

Ultra jumped into the air from shock, pulled out his hammer, and swung, knocking Demi out of her cloud.

"Do you know how long it takes for me to get into that cloud?" Demi asked, looking at the cloud.

"Nope." Ultra answered, slightly uninterested.

Demi groaned, and handed Ultra a paper of the scores. She then started to attempt to get back into the cloud.

**Race Results**

Cream - 1st - 15 points

Mario - 2nd - 12 points

Sonic - 3rd - 10 points

Toad - 4th - 8 points

DK - 5th - 7 points

Blaze - 6th - 6 points

Shadow - 7th - 5 points

Silver - 8th - 4 points

Wario - 9th - 3 points

Peach - 10th - 2 points

Daisy - 11th - 1 point

Amy - 12th - 0 points

**Total Results (Races done)**

Cream - 1st - 20 points (2)

Luigi - 2nd - 15 points (1)

Mario - 3rd - 12 points (1)

Tails - 3rd - 12 points (1)

Sonic - 4th - 10 points (1)

Knuckles - 4th - 10 points (1)

DK - 4th - 10 points (2)

Peach - 4th - 10 points (2)

Toad - 5th - 8 points (1)

Amy - 6th - 7 points (2)

Yoshi - 7th - 6 points (1)

Blaze - 7th - 6 points (1)

Daisy - 8th - 5 points (2)

Shadow - 8th - 5 points (1)

Silver - 8th - 5 point (2)

Wario - 9th - 3 points (1)

Rouge - 10th - 2 points (1)

Waluigi - 11th - 0 points (1)

**Team Results (All Races)**

Team Sonic - 1st - 40 (77)

Team Mario - 2nd - 32 (68)

"When did we get so bad at this?" Yoshi asked, peeking at the paper.

"Don't worry, the Grand Prix has only just started!" Toad said.

"When did we get so good at this?" Knuckles asked, getting jabbed by someone.

"Don't question our luck. Just go with it." the person said.

"When did this become so hard?" Demi asked, still trying to get into her cloud.

"Maybe you're putting on weight." Ultra suggested, getting a very intimidating look from Demi.

"Hm, where'd Waluigi go?" Silver asked curiously.

Just then, Waluigi came crawling into view. He was devastated.

"Oh, so that's where those high-pitched screams came from. What…happened to you?" Silver asked, nearly about to burst out into laughter.

"Fan-girls...they were everywhere. They beat me, they ripped me, they kicked me, they violated me, they bit me, they blew oversized horns in my ears, they, they, they-"

"We get it. Shadow's fan-girls are dangerous." Mario stopped him, not wanting to hear more. "Let's just go."

"If only you were Wario…" Shadow mused, walking off.

* * *

**Eh, part of me isn't really satisfied with this chapter…but I'm not up to re-doing it right now. Anyhow, the next race is Mushroom Gorge...**


	5. The Heated Battle of the Gorge

**I'm gonna start slapping the current stats on to the start of each chapter, as you may be able to see below right now.**

**Also, this chapter was semi-rushed, so I'll go back and fix it up next year.**

* * *

Mario Versus Sonic in a Grand Prix!

Chapter 5: The Heated Battle of the Gorge

**Total Results (Races done)**

**Cream** - 1st - 20 points (2)

Luigi - 2nd - 15 points (1)

Mario - 3rd - 12 points (1)

**Tails** - 3rd - 12 points (1)

**Sonic** - 4th - 10 points (1)

**Knuckles** - 4th - 10 points (1)

DK - 4th - 10 points (2)

Peach - 4th - 10 points (2)

Toad - 5th - 8 points (1)

**Amy** - 6th - 7 points (2)

Yoshi - 7th - 6 points (1)

**Blaze** - 7th - 6 points (1)

Daisy - 8th - 5 points (2)

**Shadow** - 8th - 5 points (1)

**Silver** - 8th - 5 point (2)

Wario - 9th - 3 points (1)

**Rouge** - 10th - 2 points (1)

Waluigi - 11th - 0 points (1)

**Team Results (All Races)**

Team Sonic – 1st - 77

Team Mario – 2nd - 68

**Race Location:** Mushroom Gorge (3 Lap Race)

**Items: **OFF

**Racers:**

Luigi (Dolphin Dasher)

Mario (Dolphin Dasher)

Tails (Whirlwind No.2)

Sonic (Limit Breaker)

Knuckles (Shovel Kart)

Toad (Quacker)

Yoshi (Rapide)

Blaze (Hot Wheels)

Shadow (Chaotic Kart)

Wario (Flame Flyer)

Rouge (Priceless Kart)

Waluigi (Aero Glider)

. . .

"So, what's a Mushroom Gorge? Is it a kind of 5-course meal?" Yoshi asked.

"It's not a meal, it's a course we're about to race on." Toad corrected.

"So it's a 1-course meal?" Yoshi asked.

"…no, it's just a racetrack. Not a meal." Toad answered.

"Though if I remember correctly, 'Gorge' as a verb means 'to eat a large amount of food greedily', so there could be a 5-course meal out there called the Mushroom Gorge, and for all we know, it could be hidden right under our noses in a 5-star restaurant." Tails recalled.

"If it was hidden right under our noses, you'd think Yoshi would be after it. Though to be serious, I think Wario went there the other day. He was grumbling about it last week."

"Oh! I'll go ask him, then!" Yoshi scampered off to Wario, who was busy picking his nose and flicking the boogers at Shadow's Kart. "Hey, Wario!"

"What? Can't you see I'm busy?"

"Well, I was wondering...have you eaten the 5-course meal known as Mushroom Gorge?" Yoshi asked, eyes glittering with hope.

"What's it to ya?"

"Well, I wanted to eat it!" Yoshi answered.

"Beat it, punk. Unless you have something to trade for that info, you're not learning your fact of the day this time."

"Huh?"

"Three things make me talk. MONEY. JEWELS. TREASURE. If ya got some, show me. If ya don't, beat it!"

"Aw…" Yoshi sighed, crestfallen as he walked away, only to bump into a glittery kart with loads of diamonds, crystals and pearls on and in it.

. . .

"So, when do you think we'll be ready to race?" Mario asked, turning the page of his book.

"Eh…in a couple of minutes. Demi will probably give me a ring on my walkie-talkie if she and the Shy Guys are done clearing the cave path of…sta…sta…stalactites, and then we can start when she gets back." Ultra pulled out a walkie-talkie. "I may as well check on her now."

"HEY, BUB!" Rouge yelled out of nowhere, seething with anger while dangling Yoshi upside-down by the tail. Yoshi's mouth was bulging. Neither Mario or Ultra thought she was talking to them, and minded their own business without even paying so much as a glance at the bat or the dangling dinosaur.

"I'M TALKING TO YOU!" Mario chucked his book AND jumped in shock. Ultra threw his walkie-talkie, pulled out his hammer out, and started flailing about madly in fear.

"IS THIS YOUR DINOSAUR, YA PLUMBER?" Rouge asked, still STEAMIN' MAD.

"To an extent, I guess so." Mario asked once he landed again. "Why do you ask?"

"THIS THIEVING DINOSAUR STOLLOWED SOME OF MY TREASURES!" Rouge stamped her feet. "I WILL NOT STAND FOR THIS!"

"…I don't see any treasure."

"GET WITH THE TIMES, IT'S IN HIS MOUTH!" Rouge howled, shaking Yoshi a bit, causing him to spit out a golden foot; which was missing an leg, but it was probably made like that.

"Well, all you had to do was shake him a bit. You didn't have to come growl at me instead…" Mario trailed, looking about for his book.

"Whatever. Just mind that dinosaur of yours. Also, you." Rouge pointed at Ultra. "Quit flailing about with that instrument of pain…you'll take someone's head off with it if you're not careful."

Ultra froze, then put his hammer away, and started scouring the ground for his walkie-talkie. Rouge chucked Yoshi and made off with her recovered stolen goods.

"You managed to salvage something, didn't you?" Mario asked, a smirk on his face as he looked down at his friend. Yoshi nodded as Mario helped him up, and he ran over to Wario to do some business.

"So, about the Mushroom Gorge…" Yoshi started.

"Hold it. You got some treasure to bargain for this info?"

Yoshi nodded.

"Well then, spit it out. What. Do. You. Have. To. Trade?"

Yoshi spat it out…it being a pair of golden knuckles without the arms. Wario pulled out a tissue, and wiped off the saliva. He then washed them both using all kinds of equipment.

"Ah, I can see the name now. Golden Knuckles. I can see the description for this now...While heavy and really, really hard-to-use, these knuckles get you some SERIOUS bragging points at the boxing joints. It could use some work, but I'm on to something there. OK, squirt, you wanted to know about the Mushroom Gorge?"

"Yeah! Everything you know!" Yoshi begged. "Please!"

"Well…" Wario started, putting his new items in his pocket. "I found the restaurant in this place called Poshley Heights. They charge you an arm and a leg to even ENTER, but I have my…ways of getting in there. The food there is probably the best in the world, and you should NEED to eat their Mushroom Gorge, it's the star meal of the restaurant. Anyway, here's their business card. It'll tell you how to get there."

Wario handed Yoshi a card.

"Ooh, thanks!" Yoshi squealed.

"Satisfied? Now, beat it and never speak of this good deed." Wario drove away from Yoshi, and continued flicking boogers at Shadow's Kart from another angle.

Elsewhere, Blaze was balancing on a tightrope. She had perfect balance, until a book clonked her in the head, sending her off the tightrope and plummeting a couple of metres to the ground, where a walkie-talkie smashed her in the face after she got up, knocking her over again.

"Uh…why are these flying about?" Blaze asked, staring at the walkie-talkie and book.

"HEY! ULTRA! Are you there? I don't think the race should-" the walkie-talkie was snatched from Blaze's hand by Waluigi, who was eavesdropping. He turned it off, but pressed the RECORD button to listen to the message later.

"Waluigi says…" Waluigi said, grinning. "The race…is ready to go. Waluigi wait too long."

. . .

Ultra was sniffing the grass, trying to catch the scent of the walkie-talkie, but to no avail. Waluigi approached him.

"Waluigi heard you were looking for a walkie-talkie. Waluigi may be able to help with that."

"I'm gonna guess you found the walkie-talkie. Thanks! Did you hear anything?

"Of course. Waluigi remembers a girl saying the race is ready to go, and will be here in a minute."

"Awesome!" Ultra said.

. . .

Demi came floating towards the starting line in the Lakitu Cloud, light in hand. She got into position.

"You look depressed. How come?" Ultra asked from the stands.

"Did you even pay attention to what I said? I'm worried." Demi whimpered.

"Well, I didn't-"

"START THE RACE ALREADY." Wario growled, cutting Ultra off.

"So, you people ready?" Demi asked, some of her usual spark returning.

"Of course. I am, the Ultimate, as you know." Shadow responded, receiving some groans.

"I'll take those groans as a yes." Demi shrugged, starting the light mechanism.

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" Peach asked.

"I dunno. Lighten up, Peach. It's a race. It has to be full of surprises." Daisy waved her arms about in emphasis. Peach glared at her. She _still_ didn't seem OK. If she wanted to figure her out, she needed to find out on her own, as hard as that would be.

"I will find out what you're hiding, Daisy. I know you are." Peach thought. Daisy looked away, and focused on the race.

The light lit up, three lights green. It was go time.

"GO!" Demi yelled, a bit quieter than last time.

The engines growled, and the karts and bikes came flying out of the starting positions. They roared, and the race had truly begun now.

Cream was sleeping like a rock by the time the race had started. Cheese was trying to do the same, but he was restless, and shook Cream by the arm to wake her up.

"Cheese?" Cream yawned. The Chao started pointing at the racetrack and shaking his head rapidly. "What's wrong?"

Cheese pointed firmly at the track, checked to see if Cream was looking, and then started imitating a driver drifting and crashing into something.

"Hey, Cream. What's Cheese doing?" Amy asked.

"I'm not sure…but I don't have a good feeling about this race."

"Acting like that won't help! Stay positive, and nothing can go wrong!" Amy shouted.

"If only that was true…" Daisy muttered.

. . .

Luigi clattered on to the bridge, swerving past Toad and Mario, and bumping into Blaze.

"Hey! You nearly knocked me out of my kart!" Blaze gasped, pushing the FLAME button and activating a torrent of flames.

"S-Sorry...it was an accident." Luigi whimpered, gawking at the dangerous flames before him. Blaze drifted into him, and Luigi spun out of control as he landed on the bouncy mushrooms. He was spinning every way possible, and rolled around upon landing before somehow getting himself upright and on the road again. Blaze winced as she too landed on the road after bouncing off the mushroom.

She turned off the flames, and chased after Luigi. Once the cowardly plumber on the bike was caught up to, Blaze turned the flames back on.

"You can't escape me!"

Luigi swerved out of a fireball thrown by Blaze, and drifted away from a triplet of fireballs bouncing towards him like bounding tigers hopping across skipping stones or chasing prey.

Luigi hit his head on the front of his bike, and in a result, hit a button that caused the dolphin bike to wrap itself in a coat of water. The fireballs didn't do squat, as proved by a couple hitting the coat and turning into steam…not even scratching the coat. Inside the coat, Luigi was dumbfounded, yet still able to breathe.

"Huh? Your vehicle was customised too?" Blaze gaped as she drifted left. Luigi darted to the left, and quickly spun till the bike faced the right. The screaming driver bashed his head on the button that started this weird water coat, and the coat disappeared in a flurry of movements.

"I don't even know how I did that!" Luigi yelped as the boost pads threw him into top speed. Blaze only had to touch the tip of the pads, and she started blazing towards Luigi, who was swerving back and forth to be a hard target. Blaze struck his bike right under the tail, her kart engulfed in fire as it scorched the undertail.

"WAH!"

Luigi was knocked into the air with his bike and was tilting forward as his head hit the hard ground of the cave they just entered. Things weren't looking good for Luigi…

. . .

Shadow and Wario were neck and neck, clashing every second or so. It was a heated battle, and it all rested on who was heavier. Wario drifted into Shadow, smashing him to the left route, although Wario took himself with the hedgehog. Shadow braked, causing Wario to have to fly to the left since he had nothing to lean on suddenly, smashing into a tree. Shadow smirked as he drove by the dazed plumber, only to suddenly see him recover in a flurry of movements, all of them revolving around an abrupt, deadly fart that propelled him to the spot beside Shadow.

"Huh, you seem to have some tricks up your sleeve." Shadow gaped at Wario, then the gas cloud he had left behind him. "However foul they may be, you still choose to use them?"

"Wah ha ha ha! Wario always gets what he wants, however he can!" Wario chuckled as they boosted over the boost pads.

"Hmph, I'll show you some real tricks." Shadow muttered, snapping his fingers and causing everything around him to stop. Shadow blasted the ground ahead of Wario and his kart, unfroze time, and watched as Wario crashed headfirst into the Chaos Spear that just hit the ground as he drove to it. Wario spun out of control, and was now a dangerous wrecking ball.

Toad, who was driving slightly ahead of the two fighters, zoomed calmly towards the red mushrooms, and bounced on to the first one, weaved to the left as he did several flips and spins, then flew towards the third, which bounced him on to a green mushroom which didn't bounce him at all, and heard squabbling.

Toad panicked and rummaged through his stuff as he bounced on to the next mushroom. He found a hammer, and chucked it behind him, and sighed in relief as he hit the ground again, now outside the cave. Unfortunately, that feeling of relief dispersed as Wario and Shadow were at either side of him. They were aiming for the other, and Toad was stuck in the middle of it.

. . .

Knuckles was bouncing over the mushrooms, taking the more exciting route as he scanned the area from his high spot. He could only see the trail Wario left behind.

"Huh, Wario and Shadow are too far away, I'll never pass anyone unless I start drilling!" Knuckles realized as he entered the cave. "Oh, how convenient. I'll just start here. DRILL!"

"Hey, Knucklehead!" Knuckles looked up. "You know better than to steal my lines!"

Knuckles shook his knuckles furiously at Sonic who had just plopped beside him in his bike. Sonic winked in response.

"I've told you to stop calling me that!" Knuckles growled.

"Ha, is that how you greet a friend?" Sonic asked.

"Argh, never mind. I'll just DRILL my way away from you! How'd you like them emeralds?" Knuckles asked, drifting towards the wall of the cave.

"Careful now, you don't want to cause this place to start dropping stalastuff on our heads! I heard at this moment, even the tiniest reaction could cause a whole chain of disastrous events. We don't want anyone getting hurt, do we, Knucklehead?"

"Stalastuff falling on us sounds painful! Don't do it, Knuckles!" Yoshi whimpered.

"Well, a little hole in the wall can't do too much damage, right?" Knuckles asked, drilling into the wall.

"He has a point there, I think." Yoshi said, driving into the hole. Sonic sighed as he just shrugged.

"There are easier ways to get through this cave than drilling holes everywhere, you know!" Sonic said, going to top speed and driving up the wall, on to the ceiling as he quickly traversed through the cave and slowly made his way back to the wall, then plopping himself back on the floor by creating a nice blue tornado that carried him outside the cave and turned him back upright.

. . .

Mario swerved past Waluigi, and drifted behind and past Rouge. They both noticed this however, and growled at Mario, then setting their sights on him. Waluigi found a bob-omb in his kart, and chucked it towards Mario, who saw it land ahead of him, and the plumber shredded to the right, both dodging the bob-omb, and entering the second lap.

"Hey! Don't bomb me!" Mario cried as he dodged another bob-omb by whacking it away with his hammer.

"Wah?" Waluigi stopped smirking when he saw a bob-omb flying at his face. It exploded right there, in his face, causing his kart to halt to a stop. Rouge just drove on by the incident, zooming towards Mario to hopefully pass him. She brushed Mario's bike, and the diamonds grazed the sides of Mario's Dolphin Dasher.

"Aw, my bike was seriously scratched…" Mario balanced himself as he watched Rouge drive away. Waluigi was now gaining on him, and Mario really didn't want to deal with him after he had to survive an onslaught of BOB-OMBS against the guy.

Mario, at that very moment, remembered the button that was installed on his bike, and pushed it. A water coat surrounded the Dolphin Dasher, although Mario was, like Luigi, still able to breathe. He smirked as a third bob-omb bounced off of his coat, and exploded in the air. He jetted forward, sending Rouge into a spin as she was passed and skimmed by Mario.

"Woo hoo!" Mario cheered as he came on to the bridge.

Tails raced on to the bridge, moments after Mario had. Wario and Shadow were behind him, and they were at WAR. Poor Toad was caught in the middle of it, and Tails didn't want to end up having to dodge dangerous spears of chaos and extremely toxic wafts in the wind.

Tails felt a rush of wind slowly approaching him, enlarging as it came closer. He didn't have time to glance, and just swerved to the left. Tails just had time to glimpse a red/white blast fly by him. If he had moved a moment slower, he would have been…!

Wario sent his fist at Shadow's kart, but Shadow moved left out of the way ages ago.

"You're so slow!" Shadow ridiculed as he charged up another Chaos Spear, which he hurled at Wario with as much force as possible. Toad ducked, and it nearly scraped his head, although that ALONE would have been very bad if that was what happened, but luckily it wasn't. Wario pulled up his butt which resulted in his upper half falling forward and having to be the legs. His butt was on the back of his kart now, and the plumber released ALL of the wind, which sent him rocketing forward, crashing into Tails.

They both went flying off the end of the bridge and bounced off the mushroom, spinning and flipping to ground, where they both had a rough landing with a quick-paced recovery. Toad landed after bouncing, followed by Wario, who drifted into Toad.

"Ah! Why'd you bash me?!" Toad cried.

"You're my crash dummy! I'm using you to take down that rodent!"

"WHAT?!"

"You heard me right! You get the honor of being the tool I use to take down that rodent! Savour the moment!"

Toad was bashed again by Wario, and was sent spiralling out of control. He whirled past Shadow, who had simply drove a bit to the left, and smashed into Tails, and they rolled around in a ball of wheels, tails and heads, rolling down the lower route and on to the boost pads, speeding up the ball of stuffs. They soon rolled out of it once they smashed into the wall of the cave. Rocks fell down, but that stopped momentarily.

"I hope this cave doesn't go nuts on us during this race…" Toad thought as he walked back to his kart like Tails was.

Shadow drifted at Wario, smashing him against the wall. Small debris fell from the ceiling as Wario grinded against the wall, then pushing away from it and knocking Shadow to the side a bit, who then fell on to the mushrooms, and bounced away. Wario gave chase, following him to the right route. As they peaked their bounces, the two of them clashed. Tails and Toad, who were right behind them, winced as they heard cracks.

Wario let out a nasty waft, and Shadow instantly held his breath. Tails threw Toad a gas mask before he started gagging, and the fox put one on himself as they all landed on green, non-bouncy mushrooms.

"That was definitely foul. I hope my bike doesn't die on me due to that smell…" Toad hoped as he slipped past Wario and Shadow and landed on bouncy mushrooms again, and continued bouncing.

"I hope I don't die after this race…" Tails hoped even harder.

. . .

Luigi zoomed past the starting line, entering the final lap. He saw Daisy practically screaming at him to win for Team Mario. The loud shouting actually nearly threw him off his bike, but like all the other times in this race, he managed to stay on. Luigi continued to maintain his high speed so Blaze couldn't catch him as he drifted around a tall mushroom.

Blaze watched Luigi go around that very same mushroom, and noticed some bouncy ones to her left sticking out of the gorge. You could literally hear the lightbulb that made a sound as an idea popped into her head. Blaze drove left, and landed on the first mushroom. She went flying back up, and landed on another mushroom, using the boost that mushroom gave her to land right on top of Luigi, startling him as he swerved left to dodge her ambush.

Blaze continued to hurl fireballs like she was doing before, and one of them hit the undertail of Luigi's bike

"Always under the tail…" Luigi groaned as he and his bike leaped high into the air and did some flips, recovering from the burning onslaught of balls. Luigi landed right on to the bouncy mushroom he was approaching, and did a few spins to gain a trick boost. Blaze landed a bit behind him, and continued hurling balls of the fire variety.

Moments after another fireball hit Luigi's bike's undertail, a blue streak raced by, sending Blaze into a spin. Once the attacked recovered, they glanced at the streak zooming into the cave, to see the ground explode before it, and causing the streak to get blown backwards and their identity revealed. It was Sonic, and the ground "exploding" was thanks to Knuckles digging his way through most of the course.

"You dug your way through this WHOLE race?" Sonic gaped as Mario showed up on the scene, and joined the spectators who had stopped driving.

"Pretty much." Knuckles answered as Yoshi popped out of the hole.

"For the record, I recall someone on a walkie-talkie who knows that Ultra kid mentioning something about the race. I was cut off by Waluigi, though." Blaze mentioned.

Everyone stared at Waluigi who had just drove in on the scene. Rouge drove by him, and was about to drive by everyone else, when Mario and Sonic stopped her.

"You shouldn't go in there yet. I've a bad feeling about it now…" Sonic said.

"For all we know, someone could get seriously hurt in there." Mario added.

"Hmph, you're probably hiding something valuable in there, but fine." Rouge drove towards the group forming.

. . .

Tails and Toad were criss-crossing as they avoided dangerous attacks created by either Wario or Shadow.

"THIS IS A RACE, NOT A BATTLE!" Tails cried as he drifted out of the way of a Chaos Spear.

"I'VE HEARD OF DESTROYING THE COMPETITION, BUT I DON'T THINK THEY MEANT IT LIKE THIS!" Toad shouted over the explosions and farts.

"HEY, LOOK, THERE'S ALL THE OTHER RACERS! LET'S CHECK IT OUT!" Tails suggested, the duo driving to the left. Wario and Shadow ignored the crowd, and bounced across the mushrooms, sight set on victory and the cave as they continued to do a mix of racing and battling.

. . .

Everyone was gathered in a cluster, with Waluigi being sat on by a perky Yoshi.

"So, when do I get my fruit for doing this?" Yoshi asked.

"Stupid dino…" Waluigi muttered, then getting whipped by Yoshi's tail.

"Um…next week." Knuckles guessed, scratching his head.

"So, Waluigi. You gonna either give us answers, or we'll interrogate you like nobody's business." Luigi said, trying his best to sound menacing.

"I'll say, that was convincing." Toad reviewed. "If I only heard that and not saw you speaking, I would have thought it was someone else."

Luigi maintained the mean look he had on right now, and waited for Waluigi's response.

"Staying silent, huh, bub?" Luigi asked. Waluigi sweat-dropped. "Mmm hmm. Not feeling so chatty now that I've gotcha, right? OK, it's interrogation time. Let's do this like nobody's business."

"Really, there's an easier way to do this…" Blaze said.

"OK, let's see your plan, then." Sonic asked. Blaze walked up to Waluigi.

"Listen. If you don't tell me what you heard on that walkie-talkie, I'll personally take the time to give you an eighth-degree burn…and you DON'T want to know what those look like."

No response.

"WAH!" Waluigi yelped as Blaze started to ignite herself, causing her to pause. "OK, OK, I'll tell ya. She said she didn't want the race to start because the cave was really unstable right now, and would be too dangerous to race through. She said even tripping over and landing on the floor of the cave would cause a pretty dangerous reaction, but she needed that kid Ultra's approval to postpone this race so she could fix up the cave. So basically, that cave may be a death trap."

Then there was some ruckus heard from the cave, and everyone looked at the cave entrance. There was some dust flying out, some yelps, some sounds of stuff falling, and some more yelps for good measure.

"Uh…we should probably try and end this race. We're on the final lap, so how about it?" Sonic suggested.

"Eh, why not?" Knuckles agreed. "Resuming the race in 321 GO!"

Everyone jumped in their vehicles, and sped off into the cave.

. . .

Yoshi drove carefully around the rocks, and approached where a gorge should be, as the boost pad indicated. Yoshi gasped when he saw the gorge filled with rocks, the mushrooms nowhere in sight. It was just one large area to drive through, with rocks falling down and either crushing you, or blocking your path.

Mario raced by him, only to crash into a boulder which was knocked away, revealing Wario and Shadow.

The two of them got up, and started looking for their karts without even a thank you.

"Hmm, talk about polite. Anyway, I need to get out of here." Mario drove on.

"WAH! G-G-GIANT BOULDER!" Luigi cried, zooming past Mario with his water coat on. A abnormally large boulder was chasing him…and because of that, it was chasing Mario, too. The plumber went full throttle, heading for the light at the end of the vast cave. The two of them escaped, followed by Yoshi who was apparently driving on that boulder. Once it was about to fall off the edge of the outside, Yoshi drove off it, and headed straight for the finish line. Then, one by one, all the racers drove past the finish line, and the results were recorded.

. . .

"See? I told ya something would go wrong." Demi scolded as she updated the scores.

"Well, I don't think anyone got murdered by boulders…so I guess everyone lucked out?" Ultra scratched his head.

"This time. Next time, you should listen to me when I say I have a bad feeling about something."

"Maybe. By the way, what are the scores?"

"Read the screen. Read the screen." Demi pointed at the Randomizer 4000's electronic scoreboard.

. . .

**Race Results**

**Blaze** – 1st - 15 points

Luigi - 2nd - 12 points

Mario – 3rd - 10 points

Yoshi - 4th - 8 points

**Rouge** – 5th - 7 points

Waluigi - 6th - 6 points

Wario - 7th - 5 points

**Shadow** - 8th - 4 points

Toad - 9th - 3 points

**Sonic** - 10th - 2 points

**Tails** – 11th - 1 point

**Knuckles** – 12th - 0 points

**Total Results (Races done)**

Luigi – 1st - 27 points (2)

Mario – 2nd - 22 points (2)

**Blaze** – 3rd - 21 points (2)

**Cream** - 4th - 20 points (2)

Yoshi - 5th - 14 points (2)

**Tails** - 6th - 13 points (2)

**Sonic** - 7th - 12 points (2)

Toad - 8th - 11 points (2)

**Knuckles** - 9th - 10 points (2)

DK - 9th - 10 points (2)

Peach - 9th - 10 points (2)

**Shadow** - 10th - 9 points (2)

**Rouge** - 10th - 9 points (2)

Wario - 11th - 8 points (2)

**Amy** - 12th - 7 points (2)

Waluigi - 13th - 6 points (2)

Daisy - 14th - 5 points (2)

**Silver** - 14th - 5 point (2)

**Team Results (All Races)**

Team Mario – 1st – 44 (113)

Team Sonic – 2nd – 29 (106)

**Next Race Location:** Toad's Factory (3 Lap Race)

**Items: **OFF

**Racers: **?

. . .

"These scores…they seem unreliable." Knuckles stated.

"That's just because we're now kicking your butts." Wario laughed. "You clearly can't believe we're destroying you newbies! You're the ones who had hardly touched karts or even bikes!"

"Hmph. We'll see about that in the next race. If these results are true, then it's definitely a fluke. I am the Ultimate, I'll have you know. I'll be checking these up later…" Shadow walked away, limping a bit.

"For your sake, Jelly boy, you better have gotten these scores right." Wario threatened, rubbing his arm.

"I didn't build the Randomizer. If you're gonna blame someone, blame Tails." Ultra said, pointing to the fox.

"Hey! It was Amy's design idea! I was just the one who built it!" Tails panicked, pointing to Amy.

"Well, I guess that explains why the Randomizer has pink hearts and a Sonic face on the back." Blaze said, ending the blame-chain.

"I don't like the sound of my face being printed on the back of machines…" Sonic groaned.

"So, apparently, the next race is…" Ultra looked at his map. "…Toad's Factory."

"Huh, I didn't know you owned a factory, Toad." Mario said. "What do you make there?"

"If I recall, we make Item Boxes…or something along those lines. I know we make many other things there, but I'm not too sure since I last visited about a month ago." Toad recalled.

"Well, let's go, then." Waluigi said. "Waluigi is sick of waiting."

* * *

**I hope you didn't doubt me about finishing this before the end of the year.**

**If you did, then that wasn't very nice of you. If you didn't, then Happy New Year!**


	6. The Factory Frenzy

**Sorry about that long wait. Nothing went right when I tried to write this.**

**Well, it's here now, so you can enjoy at your own discretion. :D**

* * *

Sonic Challenges Mario to a Grand Prix!

Chapter 6: The Factory Frenzy

**Race Results**

**Blaze** – 1st - 15 points  
Luigi - 2nd - 12 points  
Mario – 3rd - 10 points  
Yoshi - 4th - 8 points  
**Rouge** – 5th - 7 points  
Waluigi - 6th - 6 points  
Wario - 7th - 5 points  
**Shadow** - 8th - 4 points  
Toad - 9th - 3 points  
**Sonic** - 10th - 2 points  
**Tails** – 11th - 1 point  
**Knuckles** – 12th - 0 points

**Total Results (Races done)**

Luigi – 1st - 27 points (2)  
Mario – 2nd - 22 points (2)  
**Blaze** – 3rd - 21 points (2)  
**Cream** - 4th - 20 points (2)  
Yoshi - 5th - 14 points (2)  
**Tails** - 6th - 13 points (2)  
**Sonic** - 7th - 12 points (2)  
Toad - 8th - 11 points (2)  
**Knuckles** - 9th - 10 points (2)  
DK - 9th - 10 points (2)  
Peach - 9th - 10 points (2)  
**Shadow** - 12th - 9 points (2)  
**Rouge** - 12th - 9 points (2)  
Wario - 14th - 8 points (2)  
**Amy** - 15th - 7 points (2)  
Waluigi - 16th - 6 points (2)  
Daisy - 17th - 5 points (2)  
**Silver** – 17th - 5 point (2)

**Team Results (All Races)**

Team Mario – 1st – 113  
Team Sonic – 2nd – 106

**Next Race Location:** Toad's Factory (3 Lap Race)

**Items: **OFF

**Racers: **

Toad (Blue Falcon)  
Mario (B Dasher Mk 2)  
Waluigi (Torpedo)  
Daisy (Mach Bike)  
Wario (Wario Bike)  
Yoshi (Rapide)  
Rouge (Diamond Bike)  
Silver (Psybike)  
Cream (Bond Bike)  
Blaze (Flame Wheels)  
Tails (Whirlwind #2)  
Knuckles (Dirt Bike)

**Toad's Factory**

"I just realized, are the people who are working in Toad's Factory going to be pleased to have people roaring past them in these bikes, karts and whatnot?" Luigi asked. "I wouldn't be too happy to suddenly have a bike nearly run me over in my workplace."

"Oh, don't worry. Toadbert said he'd handle everything about that." Toad assured everyone. "We made extra precautions, and we even had Professor E. Gadd over to rig the factory so it would run automatically. The guys down there are having a paid day-off, so they won't be complaining."

"Automatically? Why have workers in the first place if that was possible the whole time?" Yoshi asked.

_Hey, people!_

"The Professor said it would be unstable to have it automatic, but he doubts something would happen if we only did this for today." Toad assured.

"I have to wonder how he managed that so quickly…" Tails mused.

_Hello…?_

"Oh, Professor E. Gadd's a scientist. He's pretty good with gadgets, considering he builds them all the time."

_HEY!_

"Does this place make cookies?" Yoshi asked.

"We make Food Item Boxes. Maybe cookies are one of them." Toad said, showing them the stampers around the factory.

"Ooh, you need to show me that at one point." Yoshi urged.

_STOP IGNORING ME!_

"By the way, guys, you need to be careful around these things. They'll stamp you into paper, so don't drop anything around these. Mario calls it paperization." Toad warned as Mario winked. "Before you know it, they'll be on that belt over there, and off to the next stage of the Item Box process."

"Um…is there some way to un-stamp things?" Ultra piped in. "What if you hypothetically drop your favourite hat on to the belt and accidentally had it stamped? Hypothetically."

"Well, you could always put it in the un-stamping process by the girders. It takes about half an hour." Toad said. Ultra glared at him, as if he had been accused of murder. Toad caught on to what had angered him. "Hypothetically."

_Come on, guys…please?_

Ultra seemed satisfied, picked up his squashed hat like it was some sort of sacred pillow, and carried it back to another outside portion of the factory. He hurled it in the un-stamping area just next to the inside portion he had just left, and watched it as the machine un-paperized it. He grabbed it moments before it went back into the construction line.

"Woo!" Ultra cheered, plopping that mushroom hat back on his lonely little head, and was grinning again.

_FREE COOKIES!_

Just about everyone darted towards the origin of the sound so fast that Sonic was slightly impressed, the location of which was the starting line, and the speaker was Demi.

"I thought that'd work. Now, race, positions, zoom. Got it? Good." Demi ordered.

"What?! I was expecting cookies!" Knuckles howled.

"Yeah! We want cookies!" Yoshi growled.

Demi dug around in her rented cloud, and pulled out a Spiny.

"Oh, I didn't know these were in here. Maybe I should _chuck_ some."

"We ain't scared of your spiky balls, girl! We have a HEDGEHOG on our side!"

"You think I want to mess with her? She's holding a spiky ball of pain. I'm not as rash as to just run headfirst into that mess to get clonked on the head by something."

Knuckles jumped up, and glided towards Demi. Demi hurled one at Knuckles' head. It knocked him out of the sky and left him on the floor groaning.

"Now, does anyone else want to try and attack me before this race starts?"

"Yeah…I think I get the message." Yoshi backed away into his bike. The others followed suit.

"THREE. TWO. ONE." Demi paused, as if she had realized something. She pulled a light out of the cloud. "Restart, people. I forgot the light."

Groaning was heard. So were boos, and chants of "_You stink!_" Demi just had to raise a Spiny in her hand, and that seemed to silence everyone.

"I'm beginning to like this whole spiny thing." Demi muttered as she counted down with the lights this time. "…GO!"

Wheels roared, karts howled, bikes barked. Everyone was off…and it was all at the same time.

. . .

Waluigi stole the lead in an instant from whoever even had that minor lead in the first place. Toad drifted into his factory, trying to go tight around the corner, but Waluigi snickered, and squeezed him back with a tighter drift. Toad bumped into the railing of the turn, and spun out of control, smashing into Knuckles. They rolled about a bit, out of Waluigi's way.

Mario and Daisy were ganging up on Waluigi, both of them taking one side and squeezing Waluigi in, but Waluigi knew what to do.

"Sorry, babe, but you asked for it." Waluigi leaned right, bumping into Daisy and knocking her away with ease. "Everyone knows bikes are lighter than most karts, so it's easy to push 'em about, sweetie cakes."

Mario held his breath, trying to fight back the laughter.

"You-GURG, You smash me away like that, then try to sweet talk me like it's nothing?" Daisy was disgusted, in more ways than one. She started spinning in circles while braking once she moved on to the conveyor belt that would move her forward while she was still, and Waluigi was smashed towards Mario's side when he was forced to drive into the wrecking bike.

Mario yelped, and swerved out of the way as Waluigi bumped into the wall and was taken backwards by the conveyor belt there. Some boxes clonked into him when he tried driving, and that just pushed him into the production line, out of sight.

Elsewhere, Wario and Silver were bashing it out. Wario continued with his brutal bashes, practically knocking Silver several meters to the side. Wario did a spinning bash, and sent Silver flying into the production line.

Tails, Blaze and Cream were simply racing on ahead, and they had 2nd, 3rd and 4th because of the fact that they were simply driving instead of trying to knock each other into the production line. They drifted around the curve past the stampers, and chased after Mario as they dropped on to some moved (and still moving) roads.

Rouge and Yoshi were apparently trying to hurl stuff at each other. Rouge was hurling diamonds, and Yoshi was hurling eggs. They were completely missing each other, as they were both closing each other's eyes so they wouldn't get an eggshell or diamond to the eye. A stamp slammed both of them into pancakes, however, and put a stop to their hurling shenanigans.

Toad and Knuckles were lagging behind thanks to Waluigi, and they had only just entered the room with the stampers. They used the forward conveyor to run over Rouge and Yoshi, stopping them and allowing them to get crushed once again.

Elsewhere, Waluigi and Silver were in the production line. They landed on the conveyor belt in the private part of the factory, and had to dodge flames bursting out of the walls, spiked stampers, Bob-omb cannons, drills, falling boxes, heavy machinery and a bullet bill cannon.

"SERIOUSLY, WHAT WAS THAT FUNGUS FREAK THINKING WHEN HE MADE THIS PLACE?!"

Toad heard this, as he was right above all this, exiting to go on the curve.

"To whoever said that, it's because this was also a secret training course for Mario, and also a way of removing bad boxes that didn't work." Toad explained, heading outside and going around the curve. "It was the Professor's idea. He also made a maze in there, somewhere."

Toad spoke this in such a tone, unaware that the person he was unintentionally speaking to couldn't hear his voice as the shooting flames, smashing spikes, shooting cannons, explosions and drills all blocked out his voice.

"Thank goodness for this bike." Silver sighed, using the combined powers of him and the bike to float over or past any and all dangers, soon reaching the escape point. Waluigi had to brave the belt without any form of escape.

He was roasted like toast, spiked like a volleyball, bombed like a house in the Toad Town Bombings, drilled as if it was by a strict instructor, squashed like your everyday Goomba, smashed by a swinging mallet like a ball to a bat, stretched and squeezed like a rubber band, frosted like a cake, and blasted like a piece of paper when its Gusty Season before finally coming out, incredibly battered. He also clogged a pipe with a bolt from his bike.

"I will strangle the punk who made that destructive death trap if it's the last thing I do." Waluigi declared, getting shot out of the escape point, which was apparently a cannon. He went flying overhead the moving roads as Yoshi and Rouge drove by there.

The two continued their chuckster war as they drove past the left and right conveyor belts. Iron boxes boxed them in the face like professionals, halting their war, but sustaining injuries. There were slices of cake in those boxes. Yoshi ate it on sight as he got back up to speed as did Rouge.

"You've made me use up over a hundred rings worth of diamonds, you rude prehistoric punk!" Rouge growled. "You'll have to pay for this later!"

"You've made me…" Yoshi thought for a moment as he swerved around an iron box. "…HUNGRY!"

Rouge looked a bit caught off-guard at this, and crashed into another iron box. Yoshi stuck his tongue out at her as he drove on. Rouge quietly hoped for him to hit an iron box, but Yoshi dodged it, and dodged another, but a third clipped him by the side and took him off the edge. Rouge snickered.

. . .

Mario and Daisy were drifting like glaciers as they bent around the tight turn on the forwards conveyor belt. Wario came trucking in, driving against the fierce backwards belt.

"You're on the wrong side, punks!" Wario laughed. "Wario Express, coming through!"

"Wrong side? You're barely fighting against that belt!" Daisy chortled. "And I thought you were the HIGH AND MIGHTY Wario. High and mighty, my butt!"

"Yeah, you kinda wanna fix that current problem." Mario said.

Just then, as Tails, Blaze and Cream drove in, the belt directions swapped.

Mario and Daisy were dumbstruck as their speed was drastically cut.

"I warned ya." Wario chuckled. "D'oh you missed!"

Daisy grumbled something as she and Mario shifted to the other belt. Tails, Blaze and Cream were blocked off because of this, and they were just one big pile of fiver racers as Wario left them in the dust and entered an area with red lighting with a pretty tight drift.

"Looks like it's time…" Wario grinned devilishly, pulling out a grenade.

"MAMMA MIA!" Mario yelped, startled and jumping out of his seat briefly.

"Hey, now!" Daisy was wide-eyed. "No need to bring in the explosives!"

"Is that a Shellstinka Mk. 2? Aren't those only available in the underground black market of that sea town in the Mushroom Kingdom?" Tails wondered as Cheese hid behind Cream in her bike.

"I have my channels back there…" Wario grinned. "Now then, here ya go."

Wario chucked the grenade.

Mario swerved out of the way, Daisy did a wheelie to block the grenade, but it bounced off her front wheel and exploded. Tails put on a gas mask and a helmet, Cream used her ears to cover hers and Cheese's mouths and eyes. Blaze just blazed on out of there, trailing past Wario and flying out of the factory on the jump. She romped over the bumps she landed on, and drifted around the relatively easy drift.

"MY NOSE!" Tails cried. "WHO COULD CAUSE SUCH A SOUR ODOUR?!"

"IT STINKS!" Daisy yelled. "IT'S A GAS GRENADE!"

"HOW IN THE WORLD DID THAT GRENADE CONTAIN THAT HORRIBLE STENCH?!" Tails screamed.

"DARN THAT WARIO AND HIS FARTS! MY EYES ARE WATERING!"

Wario chuckled as he went flying out the factory, landing before the bumps and romping across them, chasing down Blaze across the mud, using the boost pads to catch up to her.

"You can't escape me!" Wario said in a prissy voice, as a way of mocking Blaze. She growled at him, her flames piping up. This made the mud much more slippery, and Wario started spinning out of control, whirling up the quarter-pipe to the left and whirling about in mid-air, landing in the second lap on his side.

"Now that's what I call getting flamed!" Daisy laughed. "How does it feel to get burned?"

Wario grumbled something very incoherent as he got back on his bike.

"What, CAT got your tongue?" Daisy snickered as she finally was out of earshot from Wario's perspective.

"You stink!" Mario shouted as he drove by.

"That stench pierced through my gas mask! I must have a sample of your foul rump-produced odour to examine when I get back to the lab!" Tails chirped, holding out a jar. "Release your…substance!"

Wario farted in it as he drove by Tails, who was glad to get a sample. He closed the lid and put it away. Wario pulled out a walkie-talkie as he entered the factory and drifted.

"Waluigi, have you found the…thing yet?" Wario asked.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah!" Waluigi chanted, zooming past Cream and entering the factory. "It's over by those stampers! Wait there, I'll show ya."

. . .

Knuckles and Toad were still quite behind, only now entering the area with the mud.

"I wonder if I'll even have a shot at winning now…" Knuckles grumbled.

"Well, there ARE secret shortcuts." Toad said as he went along the boost pads.

"Shortcuts?" Knuckles asked, flying off the ramp just before the next lap.

"Yeah, they're EVERYWHERE. No one ever bothers looking, though. It makes me feel sad to see my secret shortcuts ignored, but I don't complain. It'll give me the edge, I guess." Toad explained as they started drifting into the room with the stampers.. "Like near Wario and Waluigi, there."

"Where's the shortcut there?" Knuckles asked as he watched Toad drive past the shady duo and go through a gaping hole in the fence. "Oh, a hole in the fence."

Knuckles followed Toad through it. They entered a cylinder that was spinning.

"Are we in something?" Knuckles asked.

"We're in a steamroller's roller." Toad answered, Knuckles looking a bit confused. "It's just the roller, though. No machine. It's set up to go at an upwards angle.

"What's a steamroller?" Knuckles asked.

"You don't know? Huh, you must not have them in your world." Toad assumed.

"Yeah, I don't think we have them." Knuckles scratched his head.

"Well, they're these things that roll over stuff. That's all you need to know." Toad explained as they reached the end of the steamroller roller. "Now, here comes the cannon."

"A cannon?" Knuckles repeated. "In a factory?"

"Yeah, there's plenty of cannons here." Toad said. "There's one in the construction line if you look hard enough. Hopefully someone finds it eventually."

Toad and Knuckles simply had to touch the cannon to activate its touch-sensitive blasting mechanism. They were fired out, and came flying over some colourful boxes, landing before the long passage with the two belts, one going forwards, the other going backwards. They saw Mario and Daisy drifting around the tight drift on the backward belt.

"Wrong side, guys!" Knuckles warned, sticking on the side propelling him forward as he cornered around the tight corner. Toad drove on to the "wrong" side, too. The belts swapped direction, and Knuckles was propelled backwards. Tails went drifting by on the only non-belt ground on the corner, the outside third lane.

"Phew, I nearly forgot about the switch." Toad sighed. "That can really mess you up."

"We learnt the hard way…" Mario and Daisy groaned.

"I prefer not even bothering with the conveyor belts." Tails said. "Their patterns are a bit too erratic to take advantage of, especially since you need spot-on timing to even make the most of the forward push, and even then, you risk getting blasted backwards if you goof up. I'll say it's effective, but risky. A double-edged sword."

"Someone's been studying these conveyor belts, I see." Toad grinned. "I should know-YIKES!"

The belts suddenly swapped directions, and Knuckles was propelled forward, zooming by Mario, Daisy and Toad. He was passing Tails to an extent, but he was clonked by an egg, getting snapped out of his mojo.

"Sorry! I was aiming for that bat behind you!" Yoshi called, using the forward momentum he gained from the belt to not worry much about acceleration. Knuckles turned around, and saw Rouge swooping by him. Knuckles glared at her.

"Personal space, much?" Knuckles growled.

"Oh, that reminds me, I was fiddling with your bike earlier, Rouge. I added WINGS. Can you try them out so I can analyze the effectiveness of them?" Tails asked. "You just need to spin the handle bar of the bike 360 degrees clockwise to open them out completely. Then you can glide whenever you catch air!"

"That sounds nice. I may have to do that now." Rouge spun her handle bar like a spinner. The wings popped out, them looking very identical to Rouge's wings, purple and black.

She kicked the ground, and she bounced into flight, zooming over Knuckles' head and into the short passageway with the red lighting. Knuckles shook his fist, annoyed that someone passed him. Tails zoomed by Knuckles, who then raged with a shout, and gripped the wheel. He stamped the acceleration, but he was at top speed.

"Why did you make my kart so slow?!" Knuckles barked at Tails. "I'm like a slug!"

"B-But I wasn't at top speed. My kart is designed for terrain like this. Yours is for dirt. The more gritty the roads you're on are, the faster you go on them! Try the mud!" Tails shrieked as he went flying off the ramp. "Now, time to try out this Whirlwind Ride."

Tails spun his handle bars, and his bike suddenly started whirling like a copter. He went zooming over the bumps and was hovering above the ground, looking like a whirlwind. As he approached the mud, it went everywhere.

"My head is spinning!" Tails cried as Rouge was splattered with mud.

"Watch where you spray that mud, sweetie. You're messing up my bike." Rouge warned as she entered the third lap.

. . .

Yoshi crashed on to the bumps, drifting around the couple of turns that lie ahead. Knuckles was right behind him. Yoshi chucked an egg at his head.

"HEY! WATCH WHERE YOU THROW THOSE THINGS!" Knuckles shouted. Yoshi simply chucked another as he entered the mud. Knuckles punched it, smashing it to pieces. Yoshi was dazed. "Haha, I'm smart, aren't I? I CRACKED the riddle of your tactics' weakness!"

"That…wasn't very funny." Yoshi said. "Besides, I'm sure there's other people out there who are EGGcellent as CRACKING YOLKS who aren't me."

Knuckles said nothing as he drove on to the mud. Suddenly, his wheels started increasing their speed. They were spinning faster, now at home in this terrain. He whizzed past Yoshi, sending him up the sides of one of the half-pipes, using the boost pads to rocket ahead, flying off the eventual ramp, not driving, but LANDING in the final lap besides Tails, who was still spinning.

"That was AWESOME!" Knuckles cheered, then recognizing the whirlwind. "Why DIDN'T you tell me my kart could do something so awesome until now?"

"Because I only just fixed it up after the Mushroom Gorge race, and that was at NIGHT when you were sleeping and said you'd beat down on anyone who woke you up."

Knuckles said nothing as he attempted to pass Tails by squeezing him out of the inner side of the first turn, which wasn't a smart idea as Tails was still spinning.

"DON'T dare try squeezing me out." Tails warned. "I can do some nasty things while I'm whirlwinding, which I am right now."

"Well, I DARE." Knuckles tried squeezing Tails out, but the whirlwind grabbed him and chucked him under a stamper. It stamped him. Knuckles and his kart were trampled. "Great. I'm now a letter to these machines. I'm offended."

Tails chuckled as he drove by, but stopped when the lights went off. The stampers went haywire, stamping rapidly and electricity sparked from the stampers, zapping Knuckles who was trying to make a getaway. Tails screamed in fear as the stampers sparked, sending out a wave of sparks and nearly shocking Tails. He yelped.

"IT'S ZAPPING MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Knuckles groaned as the stampers zapped him, knocking him back on to the conveyor belt, and rapidly switching back and forth, sending him under a stamper on in front of one, open prey for the sparks. "TAAAAAAAAAAAILSSSSSSSS RUUUUUUUUNNNN!"

Tails was gone before he even finished that sentence. Not that Knuckles was a very fast speaker in this case. A spinning wheel dropped down and nearly blocked Tails out. It jolted menacingly with electricity. Tails drifted around the monstrosity and cried for help outside.

Yoshi came driving inside with Mario, Daisy and Toad. They gaped at Knuckles getting zapped and crushed.

"Whoa, are you OK, Knuckles?" Mario asked.

"OF COURSSSSSE I AM, IT'SSSSS NOT LIKE I'MMMMMM GETTTTTTTING ZAPPPPPPED AND CRUUUUUUUSHED BY THESE MACCCCHIIIINNNEEEES WITHHHHHH MIIIIINDDDSSS!"

"Yeah, pointless question, if you ask me." Daisy stated. "The guy's obviously in pain, Captain Obvious."

"Ugh, that looks so horrible. What's going on, Toad?" Yoshi asked as Mario just grumbled.

"I think making this factory automatic has had a negative effect on the quality of the security system, and someone must have messed with the settings. Probably a Mouser. It happens quite a bit." Toad explained.

"Well, how do we fix it?" Mario asked, glaring at Daisy. She just shrugged. Toad looked at him for a bit, blank. "We CAN fix it, right?"

"Do you really think this is gonna turn out like every other situation when something goes wrong in our world, when someone just so happens to know how to fix a problem that has occurred within seconds of them seeing the problem, like every cliché story of our adventures out there?" Toad asked.

"Maybe…?" Mario said hopefully. Toad looked at him with a blank expression for a while, then took out a factory book.

"…well, for once, that cliché event that's in NEARLY EVERY STORY OF US OUT THERE, is not occurring to an extent. We have to go into the construction line and shut it down." Toad explained, reading the factory book. "There's this eternal shut-down switch in the heart of the factory. We have to hit that with something, and the factory will do the rest."

"Phew, you had me scared for a second." Mario sighed in relief. "Try not doing that again. I thought there was no solution."

"Well, OK." Toad shrugged.

"You do know we're still in a race, right?" Daisy asked. "And we may be losing?"

"A LITTTTTTTTLEEEEEE HEEEEEELLLLLLPPPP HEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRREEEE!" Knuckles moaned.

"Oh yeah, someone 'oughta deal with Knuckles here." Mario reminded everyone. "In fact, how about I do it?"

"What do you do?"

"I'll…try something."

"OK, we'll be off into the construction line, then." Toad declared, driving into the construction line with Yoshi and Daisy. Mario got to work, by ramming into Knuckles while the stamper was up.

"MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMAAAAA MIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAA!" Mario yelped, getting knocked back, but sending Knuckles flying from the machine.

"Thanks, plumber. I'm too tired to move, so I'll be napping now." Knuckles muttered before napping for a bit.

"Looks like I'm done here. Back to the race!" Mario chanted, driving out into the race again.

. . .

Daisy, Toad and Yoshi zoomed around some flames, ducked under a swinging mallet, and dodged some Bullet Bills. They were slowly nearing the shutdown switch.

"Are we any closer?" Daisy groaned.

"No, we're actually get farther away. We have to go down from here, but this belt is pushing us along. We'll need to get off this belt… but how?" Toad wondered. "Any ideas, Yoshi? Yoshi? …Yoshi?"

"You know you can just drive off the belt? There's no barriers." Yoshi called from down below.

"Oh." Toad drove off, along with Daisy, and they just trucked along until they came across the shutdown switch. "So, Yoshi, we need you to hit that."

"Got it!" Yoshi hurled an egg at the shutdown switch, knocking its lights out. Everything powered down, and there was a low hum as the machines stopped. "Um…is that good?"

"I think so. This manual's quite outdated. There's even a warning of the materials used to make this factory being dangerous and highly unstable if the volts were loose… or something like that. I'm not sure, this manual's written in this old lore. Anyway, we should get back to the race. I'll deal with this during the break."

. . .

Mario zoomed past Rouge and Tails, sending them into a crazy spin.

"Gotta go fast!" Mario chanted, approaching Blaze, who was in a spurt, too. They were blazing around the long drift on the shutdown belts, but it seemed to last longer as the belts were down. "It looks like the others dealt with all this. They entered the short passageway with red lighting, and flew off the ramp there. They plummeted on to the bumps, and rode across the mud. They were neck and neck, the final sprint, but then Yoshi came flying overhead with Toad. They landed past the finish line, Toad finishing, then Yoshi.

Mario leaned forward in a last ditch effort, and skidded across the finish line, split seconds before Blaze did.

"Mamma mia, that was close." Mario sighed as Daisy passed the line, too. "If it wasn't for that tiny boost I got from leaning forward, I would have lost."

"This time, you won. Next time won't be the same, Mario. I'll leave you in the dust." Blaze declared as Wario and Waluigi drove in from behind a half-pipe.

"Where'd you guys come from?" Yoshi asked.

"There's many top-secret shortcuts in this course. We just found one." Wario said.

"Wow, someone actually found that pipe? Amazing!" Toad cheered.

"Bah, it was easy. It was like a pipe out of water." Waluigi said.

"NAH. It WAS a pipe out of water." Wario corrected.

"Whoa, when did so many people get by me? That's a shocker!" Tails gasped at the people there. "Even Rouge slipped past me!"

(Wario and Waluigi somehow finish before Tails and Rouge, appearing from the sidelines discretely.)

Silver soon came past the line, followed by Cream, who was scared to death of the way the crane moved the road she was on so recklessly.

"The machines went all haywire, and I fainted." Cream explained. "It was really scary being on that road when it was getting moved like that. Then it just stopped, and I fell into the water. Luckily there was a pipe where I landed, and I came out behind that half-pipe."

Finally, Knuckles came around.

"Sorry, I took a nap, guys." Knuckles stretched his arms. "All I remember were those stampers, Mario, and falling asleep."

"So, you done here?" Ultra asked out of nowhere.

"You're not being very helpful, you know?" Yoshi asked.

"Hey, it's not my fault the weird things happen as far away from me as possible." Ultra shrugged. "OK, next time, I'll be ready. I'm your detective, now. Call me Detective Jelly."

Ultra put on some shades, and a trench coat. He pulled out a magnifying glass, and just idled.

"See what happens when you race the pros?" Wario trash-talked Tails. "See how apart from that cat, you all got sweeped? That's because Team Wario have Wario on their side!"

"YEAH! YEAH! YEAH! You guys should have stayed at home. You don't stand a chance if you've all only been in a race or four!" Waluigi taunted.

"Let's hope he actually means this…" Demi said. "…now, this map says the next course is Mario Circuit."

"Can we take a break, first?" Yoshi groaned. "I need something to eat. You know, give it a few days before we move on to the next four courses."

"Fine, we'll chill for a few days, then we'll carry on. But FIRST, the scores! What fun!" Ultra set up the Randomizer. "And you know, I've been fixing up the Randomizer and setting up a new format. Look and see!"

"Anything else you wanna add?" Demi asked, hinting something through a wink.

"Oh, and I also changed up the rules. Rather than the machine choosing, YOU guys choose. Yes. You people. All 18 of you. Now, the result screen, and then we'll all break."

**Race Results**

**Toad** – 1st – 15 points  
**Yoshi** – 2nd – 12 points  
**Mario** – 3rd – 10 points  
Blaze – 4th – 8 points  
**Daisy** – 5th – 7 points  
**Waluigi** – 6th – 6 points  
**Wario** – 7th – 5 points  
Rouge – 8th – 4 points  
Tails – 9th – 3 points  
Silver – 10th – 2 points  
Cream – 11th – 1 point  
Knuckles – 12th – 0 points

**Team Results (All Races)**

Team Mario – 1st – 55 (168)

Team Sonic – 2nd – 18 (124)

**Next Race Location:** Mario Circuit (3 Lap Race)

**Items: **OFF

**Racers: **?

* * *

**Well, that just about wraps up Toad's Factory. Like the Randomizer says, the next race is Mario Circuit. I'm personally looking forward to this one. The old plan has a veeeery interesting plan for this race. Hopefully you'll like it as much as I did. ;D **


	7. High-Speed Circuit Race

**So, wondering what was planned for this race? …no? Well, you better be. It's actually slightly unique compared to the other four races.**

**Luigi's Circuit was basic, Moo Moo Meadows was slightly interesting with the stampede and such, but was still a pretty basic. Mushroom Gorge ramped it up with the cave in, and had a bit of a battle thing going on at some points, Toad's Factory was sorta wild, a bit like Mushroom Gorge, but they were all generally the same 3-lap thing.**

**But that was Mushroom Cup. THIS, is Flower Cup. My point is, things will be getting wackier, with added gimmicks and whatnot.**

* * *

Sonic Challenges Mario to a Grand Prix!

Chapter 7: High-Speed Circuit Race

**Race Results**

**Toad** – 1st – 15 points  
**Yoshi** – 2nd – 12 points  
**Mario** – 3rd – 10 points  
Blaze – 4th – 8 points  
**Daisy** – 5th – 7 points  
**Waluigi** – 6th – 6 points  
**Wario** – 7th – 5 points  
Rouge – 8th – 4 points  
Tails – 9th – 3 points  
Silver – 10th – 2 points  
Cream – 11th – 1 point  
Knuckles – 12th – 0 points

**Total Results (Races done)**

**Mario** – 1st - 32 points (3)  
**Blaze** – 2nd - 29 points (3)  
Luigi – 3rd - 27 points (2)  
Yoshi - 4th - 26 points (3)  
Toad - 4th - 26 points (3)  
**Cream** - 6th - 21 points (3)  
**Tails** - 7th - 16 points (3)  
**Rouge** - 8th - 13 points (3)  
Wario - 8th - 13 points (3)  
Waluigi - 10th - 12 points (3)  
Daisy – 10th - 12 points (3)  
**Sonic** - 10th - 12 points (2)  
**Knuckles** - 13th - 10 points (3)  
DK - 13th - 10 points (2)  
Peach - 13th - 10 points (2)  
**Shadow** – 16th - 9 points (2)  
**Amy** - 17th - 7 points (2)  
**Silver** – 18th - 7 points (3)

**Team Results - All Races**

Team Mario – 1st – 168

Team Sonic – 2nd – 124

**Next Race Location:** Mario Circuit (40-Lap Race)

**Special Gimmick: **?

**Items:** OFF

**Racers: ?**

**Mario Circuit**

"Uh, why do you keep changing the layout of the stats?" Sonic asked. "And what's that Special Gimmick for, and why is it slightly creeping me out when you left it as '?'?"

"WELL, glad you asked!" Ultra chirped. "You see, I'm very indecisive."

"Uh, why did you dog-" Sonic was cut off.

"MAMMA MIA! FORTY LAPS?!" Mario gasped. "What happened to only three?!"

"WELL, glad you asked!" Ultra chirped. "You see, that's a secret. Wait, forty? Oh, that's just a typo. Nothing big."

"Why were you glad I asked, then?" Mario asked, a bit confused.

"Just messing with ya." Ultra shrugged.

"HEY! You're dodging my question!" Sonic growled.

"HI, I'M DAISY!" Daisy said as she stopped by the trio, who were apparently in three deck chairs.

"You know, you don't need to do that, Daisy." Mario stated.

"What if I meet someone new?" Daisy asked.

"Well, just say hi." Mario answered.

"Then they'll ask my name." Daisy said.

"Well, just give them your name then."

"But it's so much easier to say hi and my name in the first sentence I say to them."

"But they might already know your name?"

"And what if they don't?"

"Well, you can tell them when they ask."

"Why not tell them before? If they know, then they know. If they don't, they'll know. Either way, nothing bad is going to happen if they already know my name.

"They might not realize you're a tomboy if you introduce yourself like that. They might call you LADY, if they didn't know you before, or PRINCESS if they do and did know you."

"Then it'll be their fault they're hit by a crystal that came out of the ground." Daisy clenched her fist.

"Huh?" Mario asked, completely missing the fast spoken line. Sonic and Ultra shifted away from Daisy hastily.

"Oh, nothing." Daisy said quickly. "That's why I'll tell them my name. Duh!"

"I'm not going to win this, aren't I?" Mario asked, tired of trying to get his line of logic across to Daisy.

"No, you're definitely not." Daisy answered.

"Well, then. Why are you here?" Sonic asked. "I was asking a **certain someone** a question they keep trying to dodge until you interrupted."

"Well, I came here to tell Mario that Yoshi's in a bit of a pickle jam. Well, more like a pineapple jam." Daisy said. "He got his head stuck in what I thought was a goldfish bowl. It was actually a fruit bowl, or at least used as one, and he was trying to get the last piece of pineapple, but had to stick his head in to get it. Now he looks like some sort of space wannabe who couldn't afford a proper space helmet. I mean, what kind of fool would use a GOLDFISH BOWL as an actual space helmet? Does that even work? What do you think, Mario?"

That last remark about the goldfish/fruit bowl stung Mario to an extent.

"Um…" Mario thought fast. "Maybe they suddenly wound up in space and had to retreat for a hardly-suitable helmet on very short notice?"

"You're DEFENDING people like that? Good grief, Mario. You of all people I thought would have some taste in adventuring preparations. You sound like an old fuddy-duddy adventurer, now." Daisy said sternly as Mario flinched, then thinking and recalling an event. "Come to think of it, didn't you go to space once? Luigi's diary-uh, Luigi told me that you went to space with a goldfish bowl as a helmet and lived to tell the tale. I heard there was still water on it and it's actually in your house at this very moment."

"Note to self, scold Luigi for blurting this out." Mario thought. "Wait, did he just mention Luigi's diary? Oh, wait, I think I remember that thing. Yeah, I actually did break into his secret room 'accidentally' and found a book lying there. I only realized 'after' reading the whole thing front to back that it belonged to Luigi's though, so I can't be blamed for that. Hey, why's Daisy staring at me like that?"

"What's eating you?" Daisy asked. "Aren't you gonna go help me help Yoshi?"

"Oh, right." Mario and Daisy got running over.

"SO, back to our little 'chat'. I'd like to know what this…" Sonic grinned as he turned to Ultra; who was apparently long-gone. "Oh, shoot. I'll have to hunt him down, now."

Sonic ran off, and Ultra stopped hiding behind the deck chairs and sat back in them, relaxing once again.

"They'll figure out eventually, but why spoil the fun?" Ultra shrugged as he mumbled to himself.

. . .

"Hey, Yoshi's translator fell out!" Mario gasped, staring at the small data chip on Yoshi's nose as he lay on the floor, a bit stuck.

"Is that what that chip there is?"

Yoshi shouted something in Yoshi, licking the glass bowl everywhere frantically.

"I don't even need to hear the translation to know that Yoshi just said something about cookies." Mario said.

Yoshi nodded, waiting for information as he continued licking.

"Well, about those cookies, there aren't any." Mario stated. "Oh, and your translator fell out, you know. It's on your nose. Probably jumped out when you fell over or something."

"So all this time, that little chip's been in Yoshi's nostrils, and that's why we could understand him?" Daisy asked, Mario nodding. "Well, news to me. So I guess Yoshi can still only say his name, and his own language?"

"Yep. Professor E. Gadd made this so we could actually understand him better a few years ago, and it gets inserted into his nose for who-knows-why, and when he speaks in Yoshi, it gets translated into our own language, and when we speak in our own language, it gets translated into Yoshi."

"Wait, if it's not in right now, how can he understand us?"

"Well, Yoshi's been with us for years. He probably understands names of food stuffs and such, and some other things we probably won't know until we get this chip back in and turn it on."

"There's a remote control for that, I'm guessing."

"Yeah, it's so we can toggle it in case of emergencies I myself can't think of." Mario stated. "Now, let's get that chip back in."

Mario poked the glass bowl, and the chip slid back down Yoshi's nose and into his nostril in a very convenient fashion. Yoshi's nose wiggled a tiny bit, then stopped. Mario made sure the RC was on, and let Yoshi speak at his discretion.

"Yoshi!" Yoshi chirped, trying to stand up but not being able to. Mario grabbed the fruit bowl, and pulled, and pulled, and pulled until the bowl went flying off Yoshi's head, breaking upon impact on the road, and shattering into pieces. "Uh… someone should deal with that."

Mario shrugged sheepishly as Yoshi got up.

"SO, HOW ABOUT THAT RACE, HUH?!" Demi coughed obnoxiously, slipping words in between coughs. Mario jumped in surprise. "YA MIGHT WANT TO CHOOSE WHO'S RACING NOW, YOU KNOW?!"

"Oh yeah, right." Mario started gathering up his team, exempt for Daisy and Yoshi who were already by his side.

"So, guys. We need to work on our setup. We need to choose six of us for this next race in my own circuit. So, who's racing?" Mario asked his seven other members.

"Well, I think it would be better to ask who's not racing." Luigi said.

"Argh, I'm hungry. I must find something to eat." Daisy groaned. "Some food would be nice before we plan."

"Food is good!" Yoshi agreed.

"But-" Mario tried to say.

"But nothing. I want food now." Daisy urged.

"Why is it so hard to-"

"Food." Daisy cut him off. "I'd like some."

"Well, how about you go off and fin-"

"But I haven't got any coins."

"Aren't you a princess?"

"What did you call me?!" Daisy looked ticked off. She looked like she was about to do her crystal attack.

"Yikes! Take this and calm down!" Mario yelped, hurling a box of popcorn at Daisy. She instantly calmed down and quaffed it happily.

"Since when were you able to pull food out of nowhere?" Luigi asked.

Mario shrugged.

"I guess I bought some a while back and never ate it."

Demi coughed loudly from a distance. She nodded to the starting line.

"GO PESTER THE OTHER TEAM, WILL YA?!" Wario shouted. "GO DO SOME RECON OVER THERE!"

"Oh, right." Demi realized, then running off to where Sonic was huddled up with the others on his team. "Go-go recon!"

. . .

"So, that Ultra guy seems to be… hiding something about this race. We need to choose carefully. Who's up to the task?" Sonic said, writing something on the clipboard he had got from somewhere. "Obviously, I am, so we need five more."

"I'm in. Hopefully this will give me another chance to wreck Wario's face." Shadow said. "Making ugly mugs even uglier."

"Um… not the reason for racing I had in mind, but we'll roll with it." Sonic shrugged as he wrote Shadow's name down.

"I wanna race! I'd like to show you what I can really do on the racetrack!" Amy said.

"Anyone else?" Sonic asked, looking up.

"Uh, me! SONIC!"

"Ack, stop shouting. I already know you're in the race." Sonic said, showing her a blue clipboard with three names on it.

"I'm in. I'd like to break this horrible streak of coming dead-last, if you don't mind." Knuckles said. "Two races in a row? Not good for my record."

"OK… there." Sonic had written down Knuckles' name, too.

"I'm ready for a good race." Blaze said. "Sign me up."

Sonic wrote Blaze down as the fifth name.

"I have a bad feeling about this race, but sure." Tails said as he was added to the list.

"Waluigi knows all!" Waluigi whispered as he crawled away from the conversation.

. . .

"So, let's get started." Mario said, holding his red clipboard. "Who's in?"

"Wait just a moment. A guy on the inside has done some recon. He'll be back any moment now…" Wario said.

"Waluigi has gotten the Intel!" Waluigi said, running in. "The racers for the other team are that weird fox kid with two tails, that fast blue walking spiky thing, that red guy with those spiky knuckles, that dark thing that looks a lot like the blue one, the loud obnoxious one with the hammer and the cat who uses fire."

"All this time and you don't know their names, still?" Peach asked. "Well, I think that means Tails, Sonic, Knuckles, Shadow, Amy and Blaze are racing, if anyone didn't get Waluigi's vagueness."

"Well, let's form a strategy, then." Mario said. "Sonic relies on speed and some acceleration, obviously. We need to choose someone who can outmatch him."

"Doesn't Toad make his karts and bikes speed up faster?" Luigi said.

"Um, I might." Toad said, unsure.

"I'm pretty sure you do. That Blue Falcon of yours gets up to top speed, which is pretty fast, really quickly thanks to the boost in acceleration you give it."

"Then you're our countermeasure for Sonic." Mario put Toad down on his red clipboard. "Now, Tails. He's like Sonic, but he's not as fast and has powerful mini-turbos."

"Well, I think I'm able." Daisy said as she crunched through the box of popcorn. "I do give a bit of speed to my vehicles, and my Mach Bike can easily out-turbo Tails' vehicles."

"Next up to match, Knuckles. He can drift quite well, and is nearly unbeatable off-road. Luckily, there's only two parts of this circuit where he can abuse that broken off-road ability. His mini-turbo stinks, though, and his other stats are about average." Mario said.

"Yoshi!" Yoshi cheered, looking eager. Mario wrote him down. Wario snickered. "Yosh yoshi! Yoshi yo-yosh yosh!"

"Well, you can share with Daisy." Mario suggested, being able to understand Yoshi quite well while the translator stopped working or was off. Waluigi high-fived Wario. Daisy seemed to have finished the popcorn. "Uh, maybe not. I'll go get you some when we sort out who's racing."

"Yoshi!" Yoshi cried, spinning and pretending to faint dramatically. Mario sighed, then casually rummaged through his overalls for some snacks, and found a pineapple and a bunch of cookies. Yoshi got up and gulped it all down.

Mario grabbed the RC out of Wario's pocket and turned the thing on again.

"Hey! You raided me against my will!"

"So, got any more food?" Yoshi asked.

"Later, Yoshi. I'll get you plenty later." Mario said

"Now, we have Amy. She's pretty balanced out, although her drift and speed stand out sorta well." Mario said.

"I give quite a good amount of drift, and even some speed." Peach said, Mario writing her name down, too.

"Shad-"

"I'll take care of him." Wario said before Mario even started.

"But he'll be-"

"Don't care. I will destroy him. My memory's fuzzy as to why, but I certainly don't doubt my hatred for him." Wario stated "Lemme at him."

Mario sighed.

"OK, finally we have Blaze. She has excellent speed, but her drift and mini-turbo are all that stands out other than that, and even then, it's not at the same time with her vehicles." Mario said.

"Ook! Ook!" Donkey Kong shrugged.

"OK, I'll put you down, then." Mario said, writing DK down.

"He means you, Mario." Luigi said. "It's your circuit, too."

"Well, I'm better at translating Yoshi than Monkey, so no wonder." Mario said, scratching DK out and writing down his name. "And we probably should get one of those translator things for DK, he's harder to understand than Yoshi…"

"I'm fining you for verbal assault!" Yoshi growled. "Your price is a bunch of juicy watermelons!"

"You're getting some sort of food anyway eventually, so hang tight." Mario strolled off to give his clipboard to Demi, just as Sonic was.

"So, I heard you might know what Ultra's planning. Sharing is caring, you know, so fess up now, all fast-like." Sonic urged Demi.

"I actually have no idea what that boy's up to. He didn't even tell me, of all people…" Demi groaned as he took the clipboards. "Though whatever it is, he told me this, it'll certainly surprise you all."

"Argh, that guy is so cryptic…" Sonic groaned. "I guess I'll have to wait… no matter how I feel about doing that…"

"Actually, you don't. The race is starting right now, seeing as you've given in your racer info." Demi stated. "So… GET IN POSITION!"

Everyone got in their positions as Demi read the clipboards, and updated the stats according to them.

**Racers: **

**Toad (Blue Falcon)****  
********Daisy (Mach Bike)****  
********Yoshi (Turbo Blooper)****  
********Peach (Nitrocycle)****  
********Wario (Flame Flyer)****  
**Mario (B Dasher Mk 2)  
Sonic (Spiky Speedster)  
Shadow (Chaotic Kart)  
Amy (Pink Power)  
Knuckles (Shovel Kart)  
Blaze (Flame Wheels)  
Tails (Turbo Tails)

"Huh, looks like you people actually listened to me for once… I'm a bit shocked." Demi said, looking up. "Anyway, go-go countdown!"

Demi jumped into the cloud, floated up near the sign saying "Mario Kart" above the starting line, and took out her light.

"Uh, you took out a night light." Mario shouted from his kart.

"Looks like that Lakitu is scared of the dark." Wario noted this down. "Might be useful gossip I can sell…"

"Oh, right." Demi put it back in the cloud, and pulled out a rock.

"He has a rock collection, juicy…"

Demi pulled out a turnip stuck to a bunch of bananas.

"He's a guy who glues turnips to bananas, interesting…"

Demi pulled out a Nintendo 3DS with Paper Mario: Sticker Star inserted.

"Huh, that was absurdly random." Demi put it back. She then pulled out absolutely nothing. "Screw it, I'm going to improvise. READY?"

Someone coughed.

"Good! Beep, beep, beep, DING!" Demi imitated the sounds made by the starting light quite skilfully. Everyone drove off. "So, do you mind telling me what this Special Gimmick is?"

"No, because those would be the spoilers. How about this? I'll give you a hint." Ultra said. "You'll see it before the end of the race, and it involves the racers to an extent."

"Well, you better hope it doesn't mess up this race like the cows nearly did in Moo Moo Meadows, the shaky cavern did in Mushroom Gorge, and the factory did in Toad's Factory. Remember, this is your responsibility." Demi reminded. "And it's not a lightweight one."

"Hmph…" Ultra strolled off.

. . .

Mario went around the corner, easily managing to hit top speed in his B Dasher. He ploughed through a Goomba, his speed only cutting slightly as he passed by Shadow.

"See you later!" Mario waved. Shadow growled, then held up his hands. Mario yelped, worried he was going to do some crazy move, and ducked. Shadow just chuckled as Mario hit a pole and reached an instant stop. Mario drove out of the pole's way, and tried to get up to speed again, although Shadow had managed to pass him with ease as he did so.

"You're so slow!" Shadow taunted.

Further up, Sonic was approaching Toad who had somehow gotten ahead of him. Toad just kept his eyes on the road and dodged an approaching Goomba. Sonic rammed right through the Goomba, not losing any speed whatsoever due to his great momentum, and they swerved to the left, approaching a Chain Chomp on a chain.

Toad drifted out of the Chain Chomp's reach, barely escaping its devastating wrath, and Sonic was sent spinning out of control by the Chomp's destructive power.

"Yah!" Sonic cried as Toad drove through a little tunnel and started ascending the hill to the starting line. "Argh, now I'll have to play catch-up…"

Knuckles, Wario and Yoshi were all approaching the wide expanse with the road turning left where the Chain Chomp was, and the ramp a bit off-road to the right. Knuckles took the boost ramp without a second thought, and went flying over the plains and the Chomp cheering and thus thudding on the ground near the tunnel a bit rough.

Yoshi had launched off the boost ramp, too, along with Wario, and they both landed right behind Knuckles. Then there was a deep growl, causing the trio to whirl around, to see Shadow with Blaze and Sonic. He was glaring at Wario.

"How in Chaos' name could YOU pass ME?!" Shadow shouted at Wario. He just tooted through his lower two cheeks, the gas hitting Shadow in the eyes and causing them to water.

"WAHAHAHA!" Wario chuckled. "The so-called Ultimate Life Form has begun to SHED some TEARS! WAHAHAHA!" Sonic and Blaze drove to the walls, far away from Shadow and Wario to avoid their… different sorts of wrath.

"This is going to be nasty… I can tell…" Sonic sighed, trying to get every inch of speed out of his kart to get away from the impending disaster. Blaze knew what was going to occur, and did the same. Knuckles soon caught on after moments of confusion, and hit the acceleration till the cows came home.

"CHAOS… BLAST!" Shadow howled at the top of his voice, sending Yoshi flying out of the tunnel, over the hill, and over the starting line, tumbling right into Toad who was also in the second lap.

. . .

"OK, I think it's nearly time to ramp things up now." Ultra grinned.

"So you'll be showing me that Special Gimmick, now?" Demi asked eagerly.

"Patience, Demi. Patience. Just a bit longer, and all will be revealed." Ultra said. "I'm just hoping this works…"

"Remember that responsibility that's no lightweight?" Demi asked. "Keep that in mind when you do whatever you're planning on doing."

"Yeah, sure."

"And try to sound like you actually know what you're doing… your attitude worries me." Demi sighed.

"TRUST ME, this'll work." Ultra said. "Even if you have no idea what I could have possibly been scheming during the time-gap between the last chapter and now."

"The last what?"

"Nothing." Ultra said quickly.

. . .

Knuckles, Sonic and Blaze were all STILL scorched and stinking from the Chaos Blast and the horrible stench Wario produced as they all had taken the boost ramp and were soaring through the air. All three of them smashed on to the ground, and went through the tunnel again.

Lagging behind them was Shadow and Wario, both of them insanely battered from the explosive gas and the deadly Chaos attacks. Behind both of them was Mario, who quickly made his move and zoomed by them both.

"Hey! Getta back here!" Wario shook his fist in rage. Shadow just growled, and started shooting Chaos Spears at Wario rather than Mario, who was clearly more of a threat, race-wise. Mario yelped and sped off like a little rodent the long way past the Chomp, escaping its grasp.

. . .

"OK, it's time." Ultra put on some orange shades, and pulled out a remote control. He pushed the button. "Now, you'll see how much this thing reminds me of the fast forward button!"

"What?" Demi looked absolutely baffled.

"Just watch." Ultra said.

. . .

Toad and Yoshi were zooming around the corner, now having reached the top of the hill at the end, until both of their karts silenced themselves yet drove on, then suddenly started screaming as if their pedals were being pushed rapidly. Toad and Yoshi went flaming into the final lap like a pair of missiles.

"Whyyyyyy are wweeeeeeeee gooooooooooing so faaaaaaaaaaaaast?!" Toad asked. Yoshi shrugged as he was forced to lean backwards and flail his arms wildly.

"Yah!" Toad cried as he smashed through a Goomba or two and they started drifting around the turn and were within moments flying off that ramp in the open area.

. . .

Sonic and Blaze had left Knuckles behind as they entered the final lap, but Knuckles went flying off the top of the hill, and landed on Blaze, knocking her out of control. Sonic was still ahead of him, though, and he wasn't letting up. Knuckles then threw a punch, hitting the back of Sonic's kart, and slowing him down briefly, allowing him to pass Sonic.

They went past a knocked out Goomba and went around the first turn. Blaze then burst past Knuckles in a flurry of ravaging flames, some of them reaching the plains to the sides. Knuckles growled, and shook his fist in rage.

Knuckles then dug into the ground with his kart, and popped out of the ground right where Blaze was about to drive over, knocking her tumbling backwards, but when she hit the ground with her wheels, she roared back up to Knuckles in an instant. Knuckles and Blaze continued to zoom beside each other, then Blaze pointed at something behind Knuckles from the side, and he looked.

Needless to say, Knuckles hit a Goomba and went rolling, screaming as he was passed by Mario. Knuckles got back upright again after a pretty long delay, and zoomed back in the race.

"Seriously, why are these karts SO FAST now?" Knuckles growled as he caught up to Sonic, Blaze and Mario. "It's unsettling!"

"Aha! THAT must have been the special gimmick Ultra was talking about!" Sonic realized. "About time I figured that out, and really, I could be bulleting down the track right about now. I should go do that. See ya!"

Sonic revved up to full speed, and blasted down the track at an insanely fast speed.

. . .

Tails gasped at what Amy, Peach and Daisy were doing. They were doing something with their karts and bikes to get them to go even faster.

"You sure you guys don't need my help?" Tails offered. "I am good with machines."

"Nope! I can do it!" Amy chirped, smashing her exhaust with her hammer. Tails cringed.

"What about you, Peach?"

"SHE'S ON THE OPPOSING TEAM! DON'T HELP THE ENEMY!" Amy growled, stamping her feet.

"But I asked you and I'm itching to get to work!" Tails cried as Peach drilled her wheels with her umbrella and clonked the steering wheel with her frying pan. "And the way you're working on these seem so… rash."

"Rash?" Daisy asked.

"You know, reckless." Tails said.

"Who are you calling RECKLESS?" Amy gasped, truly offended by that statement of Tails'. Daisy seemed to think the same thing.

"Two peas in a pod." Tails muttered quietly as he drove off after all that time.

"Now, let's try these things out." Amy declared, the three of them jumping into their rides and rocketing off into the third and final lap nearly as fast as Sonic, maybe even faster than Sonic was going. "WOOO!"

Tails was passed by all three of them, getting sent into a spin.

. . .

"Mamma mia!" Mario and Sonic cried, getting thrown like garbage out of the way by the three girls just before the finish line. Knuckles had escaped the danger, luckily, and finished first.

"Coming through, the GALS are in town!" Amy shouted.

"Watch out, we're tearing down the track!" Peach warned.

"Get out of the way if you don't want to get mowed down!" Daisy shouted, pointing behind her at Blaze in a knocked-over kart by some trees.

Daisy had made it a split-second before Amy, and after Amy had passed by, Sonic whizzed past Peach who was looking a bit guilty at the fallen plumber and the rest of the carnage and had slowed down for a moment of silence, and thus, Sonic had made it to the finish before Peach.

Mario got up, slightly beaten from his fall on to that pointy rock, and got back in his kart after flipping it upright. He drove to the finish line and finished, then fell asleep, exhausted from going through such a mowing-down.

Shadow came by, looking quite victorious as he drove past the finish line, followed by Blaze who had finally got up after that incident with the tree.

Toad and Yoshi, bruises on their heads and/or noses, came by, Toad getting across the line before Yoshi. Tails, bruises on his two tails, came by next, and finally a battered Wario with tattered overalls came along as the last place racer.

"Phew, I survived that hurricane of females." Knuckles sighed in relief.

"We devastated the other team!" Knuckles grinned. "We probably got a lead by 10 points at least!"

"You're losing, Knuckles." Toad said. "Team Mario is apparently winning by over 20 points, and still do most likely."

"Way to put a damper on things…" Knuckles looked bummed out.

"I feel I should have probably made that five laps." Ultra sighed. "Maybe that would have shown off that gimmick better. It started pretty late, too. That was a pretty big bust."

"Well, it looks like no one got attacked by machines, cows or falling rocks, so that's something." Demi said optimistically. "Now, you should herd them and shoo them to the next course before something DOES."

"So, looks like someone finally won for once." Sonic said, limping over to Knuckles.

"About time, too. I came last TWICE." Knuckles groaned.

"What did you think?" Amy asked, appearing out of the blue. "I came third, and ran circles around you!"

"I was surprised a bike could even go that fast." Sonic admitted. "I gotta go ask Tails to ramp up my stuff."

"So, the scores…" Mario trailed, expecting scores to be produced.

"For the record, the next course is…" Ultra shuddered. "…Coconut Mall."

"YAY!" some of the racers cheered, mostly for different reasons.

"The food!" Yoshi and Daisy drooled.

"The clothes!" Peach and Amy chirped.

"The gym!" Wario and Knuckles tensed their bodies.

"The pasta!" Mario grinned.

"The chili dogs!" Sonic smiled.

"The jewels!" Rouge smirked.

"The race!" Shadow and Blaze stated.

"THE RACE, of all things?! You two are boring!" someone shouted. Shadow glared at the sky, causing them to whimper.

"I'm not too interested in the mall. I'd just like to race, personally." Blaze shrugged.

"Malls are for squares." Shadow said smugly.

"The scores!" Toad finished, cutting off anyone who thought otherwise to Shadow's statement.

**Race Results**

Knuckles – 1st – 15 points  
**Daisy** – 2nd – 12 points  
Amy – 3rd – 10 points  
Sonic – 4th – 8 points  
**Peach** – 5th – 7 points  
**Mario** – 6th – 6 points  
Shadow – 7th – 5 points  
Blaze - 8th – 4 points  
**Toad** – 9th – 3 points  
**Yoshi** – 10th – 2 points  
Tails – 11th – 1 point  
**Wario** – 12th – 0 points

**Total Results (Races done)**

**Mario** – 1st - 38 points (4)  
**Blaze** – 2nd - 33 points (4)  
**Toad** – 3rd - 29 points (4)  
**Yoshi** - 4th - 28 points (4)  
**Luigi** – 5th - 27 points (2)  
**Knuckles** - 6th - 25 points (4)  
**Daisy** – 7th - 24 points (4)  
**Cream** - 8th - 21 points (3)  
**Sonic** - 9th - 20 points (3)  
**Peach** - 10th - 17 points (3)  
**Amy** - 10th - 17 points (3)  
**Tails** – 12th - 17 points (4)  
**Shadow** – 13th - 14 points (3)  
**Rouge** - 14th - 13 points (3)  
**Wario** - 15th - 13 points (4)  
**Waluigi** - 16th - 12 points (3)  
**DK** - 17th - 10 points (2)  
**Silver** – 18th - 7 points (3)

**Team Results (All Races)**

Team Mario – 1st – 30 (198)

Team Sonic – 2nd – 43 (167)

**Next Race Location:** Coconut Mall (3 Lap Race)

**Special Gimmick: **?

**Racers: **?

* * *

**By the way, the system now factors in the races done in the total results. So if two people have the same score, but one of them has done one less race, they'd be in a different and higher place. Only if they've got both the same number of races and same score would they share the same place. Just letting you know. Oh, and underlined names in the score are the losing team. Likewise, the bold names are the winning team members.**

******(01/07/2013) **So, if you've been wondering why it's taken 97 days as of now to get the next chapter out, basically I lost the latest file for this story, and thus all my work put into the next chapter is gone... so I basically lost a whole chapter and a bit of the next. Anyway, I'll do my best to as quickly as possible either find the file or re-write the next chapter as much like the original as possible, so you guys just sit tight.


End file.
